Corruption
by Steve1
Summary: Imagine having the power of all the Pokemon in the world combined? Two people can have this power, and they can take over the world. Only Jessie and James can stop this from happening. The fate of the world and Team Rocket lies in their hands...


This story is based around the Team Rocket members Jessie and James.  
Their history together has been slightly altered.  
In this story, Jessie and James originally met Cassidy and Butch in their  
school, briefly. They then never met as said in the Anime TV Series. This  
story is their first encounter.

This fan-fiction contains soft and intense Rocketshippy AND Neoshippy  
moments. Yes, that right. Neoshippy. Although I'm more of a Rocketshippy  
person, I like Cassidy and Butch too! Well, mainly Cassidy ^_^ CA-siddy...

Disclaimer: As said by a fellow author, "Must I?" I think that sums it up.  
-=-=-=-

Corruption  
By Steve Chandler

The music played throughout the hall as many young adults danced with  
each other, enjoying the bliss of the evening. An orchestra played classic  
songs created by artists of the past centuries, as well as slow, recent songs  
that everyone loved to dance to. That night was a special night, so classic  
music was in order as well as champagne and wine.  
Laughter erupted from the small crowd in the corner, with one person in the  
middle entertaining the others with jokes and amusing stories. Giggling girls  
ran across the hall after one of them had just asked out a boy, leaving him  
stumped and embarrassed. Most of the action however was concentrated in  
the middle of the hall. Everyone was in his or her most glamorous suits. The  
girls had dressed up in ball gowns like Cinderella as if going to their own ball,  
and the boys had dressed up like the Prince Charming of the same story.

Adults in their late thirties stood along the back wall telling jokes, sipping at  
their alcoholic drinks and keeping a stern eye on the children. Chairs lined the  
walls of the hall but because of the bustling activity, they were all empty.  
However, a young redheaded girl occupied one chair. She was sitting alone  
humming along with the music. She was admiring everyone else in the hall  
dancing away happily. She was glad that everyone else was having a good  
time even although she wasn't. Her red dress that clung to the curves of her  
hips crumpled up from being sat upon. The dress was made to be danced in,  
not to be sat in. Her hair was tied up into a beautiful bunch with two thin  
marble sticks keep the bunch up. A necklace hung around her neck with a  
large crystal hanging down surrounded in decorative metal. The crystal was  
rumoured to be from that of the Crystal Onix. Jessie didn't know whether to  
believe that or not. Her dainty face was that of an angel with the bluest eyes  
that anyone had seen. Her small nose evened out her small face; anyone  
would agree that she was the cutest girl in the school by far. The girl could  
have been one of the most popular girls in the school but it was her  
confidence that let her down. The girl had no confidence to stand up for  
herself, and never spoke aloud when she wanted to. She was very  
embarrassed by boys. She had been asked to go to this ball by at least 5  
different guys, but she turned all of them down. She now regretted that move.

The music faded as the orchestra came to a finale. The music stopped.  
Everyone turned towards the musicians and cheered. As the applause came  
to an end, the orchestra once again started up and played another piece of  
classical music. Everyone went back to what they had been doing, but more  
people had decided to dance.

The air conditioning blasted through the vents in the top of the hall. Lights  
blared down on everyone from the ceiling, and coloured lights lit up different  
areas of the hall making it more beautiful that it actually was.

That evening was a celebration of the graduation of most students at  
Pokémon Tech. Pokémon Tech was the most highly respected Pokémon  
trainer school in the entire world. No other school had higher passes than  
Pokémon Tech did. However, as it was the best trainer school in the world  
the admission fees were high. Only rich children were able to enter, or those  
children who had spent all of their money just to get in. Some parents had  
tried all they could to get their children into Pokémon Tech even by making  
some personal sacrifices. This was the situation that the girl's family was in.  
She was from a poor family that just about made ends meet. Her mother had  
died, and only her father was there to help her. Her parents had been saving  
up for a lifetime time to send their girl to Pokémon Tech, and eventually that  
had saved up enough money to send her. However her mother didn't live to  
see that day. Jessie almost cried when she found out that she was going to  
Pokémon Tech. She really wished her mother could have been there. She  
was never going to forget that day.

The pretty redhead was now the only person sitting down during this dance.  
She recognised the song, and it was one of her favourites. She closed her  
eyes and began to imagine a dream date whisking her away from all this to  
dance on the clouds in the sky. The girl began to get swept away in her  
daydream when she was suddenly awakened by a voice.

"Care to dance?" the boy asked. The girl opened her eyes wide in surprise,  
and then looked up at the man towering over her. She relaxed. It was her  
friend, her male friend. They had both met each other when they first arrived  
at Pokémon Tech. They hit it off straight away and vowed to pass the course.  
They both did. She looked into his turquoise eyes and politely nodded her  
head. He held out his right hand. She took a hold of her purple bag, and laid it  
down on the seat next to hers. She placed her hand in his and he closed his  
fingers around her wrist. He pulled her up slightly as she jumped out of her  
chair. Her dress flew around as she twirled her into his arms.

He whispered into her ear in a posh accent.

"I don't think I've had the pleasure to hear your name." She decided to play  
along with his game. He was like that, always playing around.

"Jessie." She whispered back. She giggled.

"James," he replied. "I'll be your date for this evening." Both of the 14-year-  
olds laughed as they proudly walked onto the dance floor for the last couple  
of dances of the evening.

Jessie smiled as her dream came true. Her dream date swept her away.

***

"Ugh, I hate this. I hate HER" The female spoke aloud to her companion.  
"Hey, you don't think that I don't like this? Jessie is dancing with James! I'm  
crushed!" Both of the Pokémon Tech students ducked down from a window  
outside the hall where the party was. The girl jumped up once again and  
looked into the window. She could see everyone in the hall dancing, including  
Jessie and James.  
Cassidy and Butch were two of the best student's in Pokémon Tech. They  
achieved the highest grades, the best records and the best prizes. However,  
they did have a reputation among a few people of being bad. No one believed  
that these two kids could be so bad, so they always got off the hook.

She looked down at herself dressed in a blue gown fit for a queen. Her bright  
orange hair was separated into two, large, ponytails with the ends styled into  
star shapes. She then looked over to her friend, Butch, dressed in his tuxedo.  
She looked him over. He wasn't bad looking. His bright green hair made him  
stand out from most boys. His voice was also beautiful. It was deep, soothing  
and calm. He could be president just with that voice. You could even say that  
he had the same voice as James. She never really thought of him of anything  
else other than a friend. They were both friends, and that was that. He  
noticed her looking at him.

"Cass, what?" Cassidy smiled.  
"I'm thinking of an evil, evil plan". The clouds above them threatened to rain,  
and thunder roared through the sky. The wind began to pick up speed.  
Leaves began to stir from off the ground, and Butch looked back into the  
window. Cassidy looked back also.

"I'm Jessie's best friend. Best female friend anyhow. See that necklace on  
her?" Butch looked harder at Jessie. He did notice a small white necklace on  
her chest.  
"Wow," Butch replied. "That must have cost a bundle." Cassidy put her hand  
on the window.  
"That necklace was her mother's. Before her mother went away, she gave  
Jessie that necklace for safekeeping. Her mother never came back to collect  
it. It's the only thing of her mother's that Jessie has." Butch looked saddened.  
Cassidy looked at him.  
"You shouldn't feel sad you know. She uses that to get everything. She  
makes people feel sorry for her." Butch gritted his teeth.  
"Oh."  
"You hate James right?"  
"Yeah,"  
"And now I hate Jessie too. Time for revenge."

***

"You're a great dancer, know that?" Jessie asked, resting her head on his  
shoulder.  
"Actually I've never danced with anyone for them to tell me that." Jessie  
looked up into his eyes, and he looked back. She blushed instantly. Their feet  
moved in sync, slowly moving around in circles. Moving along to the music,  
Jessie was lost in a world of passion. She had dreamed of that moment, and  
now it was happening. However, Jessie's world was about to come crashing  
down.

James then felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around slightly. It was his  
friend, Jake.  
"Hey man," he started. Jake then noticed Jessie on James' shoulder, staring  
at him. "Oh sorry Jessie. Can I borrow James for a minute?" Jessie, with no  
verbal response, nodded. James whispered into Jessie's ear.  
"I'll be back in 5." Jessie then smiled.

James followed Jake to the other side of the hall while Jessie went to sit  
down once again. Jake stopped and turned around to face James.  
"Hey man, how about Jessie then," Jake grinned. James looked bemused.  
"Score dude!" James looked away with laughter then back to wards Jake, still  
grinning.  
"No Jake, we're just friends. Nothing more than that is going to happen ok? I  
said I'd dance with her, and I'm keeping my promise." James replied, a  
blatant lie.  
"Sure man, I believe you." His friend replied with a smirk on his face.  
"Anyhow, someone wants to meet you outside." James stepped back slightly.  
"Who?"  
"I don't know man, I don't even know them. And you know how many people I  
know. He looked pretty serious."  
"Ok thanks." James turned to start walking towards the door when Jake  
grabbed his arm.  
"James, he looked pretty tough. Be careful ok?"  
"Hey, how tough can he be?" James laughed and went towards the door.  
"Heh," Jake replied nervously. "How tough....".

***

James finally finished navigating the corridors of the Pokémon Technical  
building and was now at the exit to the outside. He stepped off the concrete  
slate at the building's entrance and onto the dusty path. The breeze began to  
increase, and he could feel the cold hitting him hard. He looked up towards  
the sky to see the clouds as black as the night sky.

"Look's like it's going to smash down." James said.

"So am I," a voice announced from behind him. As James turned around, a  
snooker cue had smashed down onto the centre of his back. James cried out  
in pain and fell to the floor. The snooker cue had broken in half from the  
impact. His attacker ran up to James and began kicking him in the stomach  
while he was on the floor.

Another kid was standing just in the doorway of the entrance, watching  
everything happen.

"Jeez...." he said to himself as he ran back the way he came, back to the  
large hall, leaving James being brutally attacked.

***

"FIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHHTTTT!" The kid shouted as he entered the big hall.  
Everyone looked around and started to run towards the door. Jessie stood up  
from her seat and looked at Jake. Jake noticed her look and ran over to the  
teenager shouting out.

"Hey, Matthew, what's happening?" Jessie was now running over to Jake.  
"Jake, oh man. James is getting laid in."  
"And you didn't help him?"  
"YOU EXPECT ME TO GO INTO A FIGHT THAT INVOLVES A SNOOKER  
CUE?"  
Jake thought for a moment.  
"Yeah, that WOULD be pretty stupid."  
"YOU THINK?" He friend replied sarcastically.  
Jake nodded his head, and ran out of the door. Jessie followed suit.  
***

Soon enough, a crowd had appeared outside of the building. The rain had  
begun to pour down, and the footpath quickly turned into mud. The other  
teenagers were now crowing in the doorway, not eager to get into the rain.  
This stopped the teachers from getting to the front. Jake forced his way to the  
front, with Jessie directly behind. Jake and Jessie found a sight that horrified  
them. James was lying on the ground, being beaten by one end of a snooker  
cue, and being kicked in the stomach at the same time. Jessie screamed out.

"JAMES!" She suddenly saw a bloody faced James look up towards her. She  
stepped back in horror. Then she saw him smile.

No one could see who the attacker was. A hood was covering his face. As the  
hooded figure was about to kick James once more, James brought his hands  
up to his chest, and grabbed the incoming foot.

"What the?" The attacker announced, startled. James got a good hold of the  
foot, and then twisted it as much as he could. Immediately the attacker  
screamed, jumped, twisted around in the air, and landed flat on his face.  
Cheers erupted from the crowd.

"Yes!" Jake shouted. James struggled to stand up as his attacker got up too.  
His attacker threw a punch to James' face. James ducked and grabbed the  
snooker cue on the floor. He stood up and swung it towards his attacker. The  
snooker cue smacked the person in the side of the neck. The person cried  
out in pain and fell to the floor.

Another cheer.

Whilst this was all happening, Cassidy was sneaking through the crowd, and  
up to Jessie. Jessie was now trembling with fear. Cassidy was now directly  
behind Jessie. Cassidy hadn't been watching the fight, and was now seeing  
her first view. She was horrified to see that Butch was now lying on the floor,  
with James standing over him with a pool cue. Anger filled Cassidy inside.

"That's it. I've had enough." Cassidy grabbed the back of Jessie's necklace  
and ripped if off her neck. Jessie stepped back with the shock from the snap  
of the gold. Cassidy then ran in front of Jessie and towards James. Cassidy  
screamed. Jessie was dumbstruck, and stood in the same place holding her  
neck.

Cassidy ran up behind James, and kicked him square in the groin. With a  
small yelp, James closed his legs and fell to the ground. At the same time,  
the male population groaned at the familiar pain.

As he knelt on his knees Cassidy grabbed James' hair and pulled him away.  
He fell onto his back, and in front of Jessie. It was then that Jessie found that  
Cassidy had the necklace.

"What, Cassidy. What are you doing?" Jessie stepped forward once more.  
The rain was now pounding down. Jessie's hair began to get wet, and so did  
her dress.  
Butch now got up from the hit to his neck. Holding onto Cassidy slightly, he  
spoke out.  
"That'll teach you..." Then Cassidy looked at Butch in shock. Butch grabbed  
his throat. It wasn't angelic anymore for now it was rough, a smokers voice.  
"What have you done? MY BEAUTIFUL VOICE!" He shouted as he kicked  
James in the stomach once again. Cassidy turned her attention back to  
Jessie.  
"Jessie, remember when your mother died?" Jessie nodded.  
"No wait, please. Don't damage the necklace. Please, it was my mothers."  
"I know that Jess, and when she died you dumped me. You made new friends  
and ignored me. YOU DUMPED ME!" Cassidy had now picked up a rock from  
out of the mud. She placed the necklace on another rock, and held the other  
rock high up in the air. Cassidy's hair was now completely waterlogged as  
well as her dress. Jessie then pre-empted what Cassidy was going to do.  
"No, please CASSIDY It's not as it seems. You just stopped talking to me.... I  
needed help and you...."

Teams began to stream out of Jessie's eyes as everyone looked on.

"Jessie, you broke my heart," Cassidy replied with evilness in her voice. She  
was becoming quickly insane. "I trusted you Jessie. I was emotionally  
broken," Cassidy's hand was shaking with adrenaline. "But I'm fine now. You  
brake something of mine" She paused, hesitated, and then carried on. "I  
break something of yours."

With tremendous force, Cassidy threw the rock at the necklace. The rock left  
Cassidy's hand and flew towards the necklace.

Jessie screamed.

The rock hit.

The necklace smashed into a thousand pieces.

Jessie cried.

From the exact moment the necklace smashed, Jessie lost all hope in the  
world. Not only did the necklace smash into a thousand pieces, so did  
Jessie's heart.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-- Present Day  


The leaves of the trees rustled in the wind as well as plants bending over by  
the pure force of the light gust. The sun had not yet woken from its slumber.  
Only a few rays of light could be seen jutting out from the horizon. Grass and  
flying type Pokémon had begun to awake and were climbing out of their nests  
and burrow's, simply stretching their legs or looking for their morning food.  
Someone walking through the forest disturbed this peacefulness soon  
enough. Although the footsteps could not be heard, ground Pokémon could  
feel it through the ground. Flying Pokémon could hear her breathing and  
anticipated her arrival.  
The darkened figure briskly walked through the dense undergrowth of the  
forest, with the mist swirling around at their feet. Small grass Pokémon  
rustled around in the bushes and ran away scared of the figure coming  
towards them. Coming closer, the figure could be seen a little more. A female  
figure was hugging herself to keep warm in the cold morning air. Wearing  
thigh high white leather boots with red trim and a one-piece black top, the  
cold chilled her pretty quickly.

The female could feel her bright orange hair brush her neck ever so slightly.  
The very touch of her hair on her cold skin made her shiver, visibly. She  
brought her right hand up from her waist to her neck, and brushed away the  
few strands of hair that were caressing her neck. The then looked at the hand  
that had brushed away her hair. It was blue.  
*Dammit, I should have got new gloves back in town, stupid. * She grumbled  
to herself as she brought up the other hand to her right and cupped them both  
over her mouth. She gently breathed into the space, warming up her palms  
slightly. She then slapped her hands together and began to run them together  
briskly.

*Wow it's cold today, * she thought. *The warehouse has got to be warmed  
up. *

The dense overgrowth trickled away as the female walked into a clearing.  
The fog had really set itself upon the ground, and anything that was in front of  
the female could not be seen. The female wearily slowed her walking pace,  
anticipating a huge structure. Sure enough, she was right. A darkened shape  
could be made out in the fog, and upon closer inspection, it was an old,  
disused Pokéball manufacturing warehouse.

The female eyed out the small door and walked up to it. The doorknob stood  
out from the door slightly more than other door handles. She wrapped her  
hand around it, and immediately it glowed. She winced slightly  
*Jeez. * A small panel on the door slid open to reveal a small camera. The  
female took her hand off the doorknob and rubbed her eye. Moving her head  
closer to the camera, a red laser appeared and shot straight into her eye. For  
a few seconds the laser resided in the eye, until a small green light in the  
panel flickered green. The female blinked for a few moments and waited for  
the door to open. Eventually, it did.

The door jutted open, fast at first, then slowed down as it slid past. As soon  
as it was wide enough, the female walked in. As she walked through the door  
she whacked a button on the inside of the warehouse. Immediately, the door  
closed behind her. She continued to walk forward then felt a sharp pain in the  
back of her head. Instinctively she cupped the area and turned around to face  
the door. A few strands of hair had been caught in the door when it had  
closed so quickly.

*Dammit, I've got to stop doing that* she angrily thought. She turned back  
around to inspect the site that greeted her. A small grin appeared on her face.  
She walked across the concrete floor, her high heels clacking on the floor as  
she did, and over to a staircase on the east wall. She then caressed a small  
part of the wall with the back of her hand. She heard a small blip as the wall  
suddenly transformed into a lift compartment. She pulled the gate open and  
closed it shut behind her as she walked in.

"Level 28" she commanded as the entrance to the lift disappeared and  
transformed back into the wall. The gears in the lift churned as it was lowered  
floor by floor into the black abyss beneath it. The speed increased with every  
second. Thee female closed her eyes as she dropped. The sensation of  
being lowered at frightening speed made her stomach turn over, and she  
could feel her high heels of her boots raise off the floor. The fact that she was  
also claustrophobic added to the sickening sensation. However her senses  
began to ease as the lift slowed to a halt. It seemed forever for the lift doors  
to open. Her fears were overtaking her but, just in time, the doors opened.

The wave of hot air engulfed her as she stepped out of the lift. The female  
smiled. The sight that greeted her was everything that she had expected.  
Cranes were manoeuvring around the massive room before. Huge chunks of  
machinery were being slotted and fitted into place as people scuttled around,  
making sure everything was going to plan. Sparks erupted from wielders as  
they connected wires, machine sections and other such types. Engineers  
worked inside the massive structure, making sure parts were being made  
right, that the computer code was being entered properly, and that the  
massive two domes either side of the machine were perfect. Most  
importantly, her and her partner's plan was working.

She turned to her right and stepped down the spiralling staircase. With each  
step her high heels; again, clacking on the metal of the staircase. All the time,  
while she was descending the staircase, she searched with her eyes the  
immediate vicinity of the floor. Just as she stepped down on the level floor,  
she found the man she was looking for by one of the huge domes that stood  
above everything else. He was already ordering people about, pointing them  
in different directions with his pencil, whilst he was making notes on his  
clipboard. With a quickened pace the female walked over to the man she  
spied. As she stepped up behind him, she tapped his left shoulder and ran  
around to his right hand side. He looked to his left, and then back to a  
worker, who had now turned into a tall female. He jumped. She giggled.

"Jeez Cassidy, do you have to do that?" the man replied. The female,  
Cassidy, grabbed his clipboard.

"Yes. All the time," She replied. "How are you getting on?" Cassidy lifted up a  
few pieces of paper off the clipboard, and then replaced them. She gave the  
clipboard back to the man.

"Well Butch, you've got everything under control." She said with a smile.  
Butch looked at her, slightly bemused at her behaviour.

"Uh, Cassidy, are you feeling ok?" He asked with a nervous smile. Cassidy  
stepped to Butch's right hand side then turned to look at part of the machine  
in front of her.

"I'm happy Butch. Extremely happy." She answered. "We're winning Butch.  
Once we complete this machine, we'll be two of the most powerful people on  
the planet." Butch interrupted her.

"No Cassidy, THE most powerful on the planet. No-one will be able to  
challenge us." Cassidy looked back towards Butch and smiled. It was rare  
sight, seeing Cassidy smile in a good way. Cassidy was almost always angry  
or under the influence of evil power. She was never seen to be a happy  
person. But now, Butch was seeing a completely different side of her. He  
guessed it was a side effect from the tests. He himself had felt slightly  
different from the tests, but he didn't really feel THAT different.

*Perhaps she is genuinely happy," Butch thought. *Wouldn't surprise me.  
She's dreamed of this for years. *

"How are the sequencers coming along?" Cassidy asked, changing the  
subject. Butch looked back to his clipboard and sifted through a few sheets of  
paper.

"Almost completed. And this report was from a few hours ago, so they should  
be completed now. Want to go check it out?" Cassidy almost jumped.

"Yeah! Let's!" Butch chuckled as he saw the intense happiness on Cassidy's  
face. She walked around Butch and over to the lift. Butch followed suit. They  
both walked up the stairs and walked into the lift.

"Level 36" Butch commanded with his raspy voice. Immediately the lift  
moved. Cassidy closed her eyes once more and waited for the lift doors to  
open. The uneasy sensation wracked her body once more until she heard the  
doors opening. She opened her eyes and followed Butch out into the brightly  
lit corridor. Camera's followed their every move as they walked down the  
corridor. Cassidy and Butch ignored them as they briskly stepped down the  
corridor. Soon enough, they entered one of the doors to their left. Inside was  
a large room with many scientists in white lab coats typing at computers and  
some adding final adjustments to a helmet in the corner. One scientist turned  
around to see Butch and Cassidy. He walked over to greet them.

"Ahh sir," The scientist said nodding towards Butch. "Madam," nodding  
towards Cassidy. "We have completed all of the initial boot up sequences for  
all of the vital systems, and am now just completing the final stage of boot  
up."

"Is the Pokémon ready?"

"Yes sir, the subject Alakazam is ready." Butch looked at Cassidy.  


"Ready for your first taste?" Cassidy stared at the equipment in front of her.

"Heck yeah!"

"Then Madame, please follow me." Cassidy followed the scientist over to the  
spot where she was to stand. Another scientist motioned Butch to move into  
another room. He protested.

"Sir, it's only for safety. You see the window over there?" Butch followed the  
gaze of the scientist. Sure enough, there was a window, similar to those in  
nuclear plants. "We will all be observing behind that so that we do not get  
effected by any stray radiation."

Butch raised an eyebrow, but followed the scientist out of the room. The  
other scientist lowered the helmet onto the head of the sitting Cassidy. She  
was holding to poles on her seat, as well as her feet touching two metal  
plates.

"Do you feel comfortable?" The scientist asked.

"Not really," Cassidy replied.

"Sorry, but it will all be over in a few moments." He could see the sweat  
appearing on Cassidy's brow. The other scientists had now exited into the  
other room. The scientist with Cassidy was now alone. He walked over to the  
pod next to Cassidy. He pulled out a small Pokéball from his pocket, which  
swelled to the size of his hand. He opened up a small tube and inserted the  
ball. Immediately it opened and Alakazam appeared in the large pod.  
Confused, it looked around. The scientist then looked back at Cassidy.

"Do not worry Ma'am. It'll be ok." Cassidy let out a nervous laugh as the  
scientist closed the door behind him. Suddenly the floor beneath Cassidy  
began to move. However, it was Cassidy and the equipment that was moving.  
The pedestal that all the machinery, including Alakazam and Cassidy, was on  
swivelled to face the window. Cassidy looked at everyone studying her. She  
didn't like this one bit now.

She could see the scientists talking in the window, but could not hear what  
they were saying. She saw one scientist press a button on a console out of  
her view. Cassidy closed her eyes. Two electric blue circles appeared in the  
space between Alakazam and Cassidy, one inside of the other. Immediately,  
the outer circle began to spin vertically whilst the middle circle began to spin  
horizontally. A loud hum could be heard as the machinery began to light up.  
The circles began to spin faster and faster. Slowly, they began to take the  
shape of an ellipse. They were both stretching out to both Alakazam and  
Cassidy.

The scientists monitored Cassidy's heart rate on the monitor in the room next  
door to the experiment. Her heart rate was spiralling out of control, as was  
her blood pressure and her natural electrical discharge of her body.

It was that moment the two circles touched Alakazam's pod, and the metal  
plate next to Cassidy. The electricity flowed through the metal plate and into  
Cassidy's helmet. Cassidy screamed. Alakazam began to shake violently.

"Sir, Cassidy's negative-electric waves are out of control."  
"Keep it up."

Suddenly a massive blue ball surrounded Alakazam. For a few seconds, it  
surrounded him. Suddenly, it flew over the two circles and hit Cassidy and  
enveloped her. There was a flash of blue light, and everything went quiet.  
Cassidy's scream echoed through the test room. The machine was now off.

"Is it ok to go in there yet?" asked Butch. A Scientist turned to face him.

"Not yet. The radiation is still active in the room. Give it another few minutes."  
Butch nodded and walked over to the console below the window. He pressed  
a button and spoke into the microphone poking out of the panel.

"Cassidy, how are you feeling?" His words echoed throughout the test room.  
The view of Cassidy was disturbing. Her entire body was limp. Cassidy's  
head was now slumped forward, and her arms and legs were now too  
relaxed. For a few seconds, there was no movement. But soon enough, a  
little finger twitched. Gently, her head moved up to face the window. Her eyes  
were closed, and but she had a smile on her face.

Then her eyes snapped open. Her lips opened and her gritted teeth could be  
seen. Her eyes were now glowing a bright red. The shackles around her  
wrists and legs suddenly snapped open.

"Sir, did you activate the release sequence?"  
"NO! They-they opened by themselves."  
"What the..."

Cassidy stood up and held her arms out to her sides, as if waiting for  
applause. It was then that she levitated off the floor. Butch stepped back in  
fear, and then smiled. The scientists began to write on their clipboards,  
furiously making notes.

Cassidy, still levitating off the floor, crossed her arms and replied to Butch's  
question.

"Butch," she started. "I feel ecstatic."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Slowly Jessie's eyes opened to the view of James and Meowth looking down  
upon her. Her vision was blurry, but her eyesight soon adjusted.

"Jessie? Are you ok?" James asked. Jessie looked at him. She could see that  
he was visibly worried. She looked at Meowth who was holding her hand,  
patting it lightly with his paw. She smiled, the sat up.

Once again the twerps had beaten them; namely Ash, Misty, Brock and all of  
their Pokémon. One of their own traps had backfired on them and an  
explosion had sent the Team Rocket members flying off into the horizon.  
Jessie didn't remember landing, but by looking around she found that she  
received quite a soft landing. Beneath her was hay. They had landed in the  
middle of a small farm. Jessie pulled herself up to a sitting position as she  
tried to inspect the surroundings. Her eyesight blurred again and she became  
light headed. Meowth saw this change.

"Watch it Jessie. You've jest been knocked out for 'bout half 'an hour. Let Ur  
body adjust." Meowth instructed in his poor English. Granted, it was good for  
a Meowth, but sometimes he just couldn't be made out. Jessie put her right  
hand to her forehead, slightly ran her fingers the top of her hair with her palm  
resting on the bridge of her nose.

"Where did you learn stuff like that Meowth?" Jessie asked, not looking at  
Meowth.

"Hey, I get about a lot. I've seen lot 'and I learned a lot. I hid out in a Hospital  
once, 'an I learned a lot of medical stuff." Jessie shook her head slightly and  
pulled her hand away from her face. The mention about the hospital suddenly  
brought back memories of the hunky doctor she met once, who then sided  
with the twerps.  
*Dammit, * She thought. *I could have had him. * She looked around once  
again. Indeed it was a farm.

"The owner hasn't seen us yet, lucky for us. We better get moving soon."  
James stated. Jessie just nodded her head as she tried to climb off the stack.  
Jessie then looked down to her Team Rocket uniform. It was charred.  
"My uniform!" She screamed. "And I just had this dry cleaned. This was my  
eighteenth suit!"

"I know how you feel Jess," James started. "Look at me!" Jessie looked over  
to James. Indeed his clothes were ripped and shredded.

"Wow, I suppose we better get back to HQ and get another change of clothes  
and."

"No, I'm not doing it!" Meowth interrupted. Jessie shot a glance at him. "No!  
I'm not goin' back to HQ. With dat Persian strutting it's stuff around da boss,  
and since we lost Pikachu once again, he'll fire us!" Jessie closed her eyes.

"I feel exactly the same as you Meowth, but we've got to go back. We can't  
just walk around like this all day."

"I can,"

"That's because you don't have clothes!" James butted in.

"Nope, I'm not going." Jessie moved her body over to Meowth and moved  
her face a few inches away from Meowth's face. Meowth shook slightly, not  
knowing what was going to happen next. He was then surprised to hear  
Jessie purr a very deep sounding groan. Jessie then brought up a hand just  
under Meowth's chin and began to stroke softly. Meowth shuddered then  
purred.

"Coming to HQ with us?" Jessie asked. Meowth, in obvious pleasure,  
responded.

"Yeah!" Jessie immediately stopped purring and stroking Meowth as she  
stepped off the haystack. Meowth clicked his fingers.

"Aww I just can't resist that. Curse these feline instincts!" James laughed and  
followed Jessie off the haystack with Meowth following suit. Jessie and  
James dusted themselves off once again, pulling bits of hay out of their hair.

"C'mon guys, let's go. Better late than never."

The trio then started their long walk back to Team Rocket HQ.

***

"You may see Mr Giovanni now. Just walk right through that door." The  
secretary said. Jessie, James and Meowth had taken just over four hours to  
arrive at Team Rocket HQ. They had dodged a flock of wild Pidgy as well as  
a group of Wild Cubone. However, they had finally made it to the HQ and  
could finally change clothes. The only problem was that their clothes were not  
at the HQ. A new set of uniforms had not been ordered yet, and so they had  
to resort to wearing the usual uniforms of other Team Rocket members.  
Jessie resented wearing the black dress with the white leather boots and arm  
gloves.

James on the other hand didn't mind wearing the black version of his uniform.  
Granted it wasn't exactly the same, but to him it looked pretty cool. Meowth  
didn't really care what they had changed into; he was just rehearsing what he  
was going to say to the Boss. It was something along the lines of begging,  
only with more tears. James, already standing, began walking to the door of  
Giovanni's office. Jessie, sitting down, uncrossed her legs and got up from  
her seat. That was another point that she hated about the dress. It was  
shorter than her previous white dress. As all three Team Rocket members  
walked into the office, the secretary spoke out.

"Good luck guys. He's already in a bad mood as it is." All three nodded their  
head.

"Thanks Jen," James relied. The secretary immediately blushed and hid  
behind a magazine as they walked into the room.

Jessie closed the door behind her as James took his seat in front of the  
enormous desk in front of him. Jessie walked over to her seat and sat down,  
crossing her legs once again. Meowth was standing in the middle of both  
Jessie and James, and couldn't see above the desk because of his height.

"Meowth," Jessie whispered. Meowth looked up to see Jessie patting her lap.  
Immediately he jumped up and landed on her lap, curling up to be  
comfortable. Jessie placed her hand on the top of his head and started to  
stroke gently all over his back. He smiled at this. Jessie always did have the  
softest touch, even if she did hit him all the time. All three members were  
sitting in their chairs staring at the back of a leather seat in front of them.  
Soon enough it turned around and there was Giovanni, sitting in his chair  
stoking his Persian beside him. Meowth hissed, and so did the Persian.

"Well, well," Giovanni started. He spoke in a demeaning voice, as if talking  
down to the trio. "Jessie, James and Meowth. Designation Delta 4 correct?"

Jessie, James and Meowth nodded.

"I understand that you have failed me once again?" Jessie and James shot  
each other a glance. James spoke up.

"Well, in a way sir, but."

"But nothing. You, one of my best teams, have not caught Pikachu?" Once  
again, the team nodded. "What has happened to you two? You once were the  
best Pokémon catchers in the entire world. Then I assign you to catch  
Pikachu, and you go completely downhill."

"Well sir," Jessie started. "Pikachu is a special case. He's not like other  
Pokémon." Jessie was slightly confused at the sight of Giovanni being kind  
and considerate. She guessed that this wasn't going to last.

"THAT'S WHY I WANTED YOU TO CAPTURE THIS PIKACHU!" All three  
winced at the sudden loudness in his voice. "Anyhow, we have a larger threat  
to worry about."

"Sir?" James questioned.

"Recently there have been reports from my gamma group about another  
threat starting up in the area. Reports have shown that there is a large  
amount of psyonic activity in this region."

"Psyonic?" Jessie asked.

"Psychic activity. Our covert operations have shown us that there is a new  
team forming in the area, and they could have the ability to wipe out Team  
Rocket completely." Jessie and James raised an eyebrow.

"I am not going to let this happen. That is why I've assigned you to a new  
mission." Jessie smirked slightly.

"Jessie, James, Meowth, it is your duty to combat this new force in the area  
and eliminate it. You will be given all the information that you need."

"Thank you sir!" both Jessie and James said in unison.

"I would assign my Omega team to the same case to help you, however I  
have not been able to get in touch with them recently. It is like they have  
'disappeared' off the face of the planet. It will be your duty to keep Team  
Rocket in power."

"Yes sir!"

"Now Team, go and please me. The future of Team Rocket rests in your  
hands." Jessie grabbed Meowth and jumped out of her seat with James. They  
both shook hands with Giovanni as they walked out of the office. As the door  
shut behind them, they cheered.

"We're gonna be famous! We're gonna save Team Rocket!" James shouted.  
"He trusts us! He really does!" Jessie exclaimed. The secretary gave both  
Jessie and James directions to another room in the Team Rocket complex. It  
was where their mission was to begin.

***

As Jessie, James and Meowth entered the room they were greeted by a team  
of scientists. James felt slightly nervous. He had never been trusted with this  
amount of authority before, and the sweat was pouring off his palms. Jessie  
could also feel butterflies in her stomach as she felt nervous. Finally, she was  
getting the attention she deserved in Team Rocket. All three Team Rocket  
members looked around the large room. There were many computers in the  
room that lined up in rows. People were sitting at them typing away. There  
were chemistry bottles on the sides of the room, bubbling and mixing with  
other liquids. Scientists were running around the room in a hurry, as if trying  
to escape a catastrophe. In the midst of the chaos, a scientist ran up to  
Jessie and James, slight out of breath.

"First Lieutenant James, First Lieutenant Jessie, your suits are ready." Jessie  
and James looked at each other and smiled. No one had ever called them by  
rank before, and it made them both feel superior. Then Jessie suddenly  
realised what the scientist has said.

"Suits?" She asked.

"Yes," the scientist replied. "We have been given special instructions to make  
suits to fit your exact measurements for this special mission." He explained.

"Can we see them?" James questioned. The scientist nodded.

"Of course! Please follow me." As the scientist turned around and walked off,  
Jessie and James eagerly followed, leaving Meowth behind.

"And what about me?" He shouted. A female scientist then walked up to  
Meowth and bent down to talk to him.

"We've been told to make something special for you!" She said. Meowth  
looked into her eyes.

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Then lead on my fair lady! Lead on!" Meowth said as the female picked him  
up and walked off.

Jessie and James were now thoroughly excited. They had been trusted with  
an extra special mission, and now they have their own custom suits. It was  
going to be amazing. The scientist had eventually motioned Jessie and  
James over to a computer screen. Both bemused, they decided to watch.

"Sir, Madame, this is a computer simulation of your suits." On the screen  
appeared two green lined body suits. Tactical data then began to show up.

"These suits have been designed to be unaffected by electricity, bullets,  
lasers as well as other weapons of known use." Jessie and James smiled,  
obviously impressed.

"Each suit has it's own characteristics. Weapons and defensive capabilities  
have been built into the suits to help you with this mission." Two more  
scientists now had walked over.

"Sir, this is Charles. He will take you to your room to change into your suit as  
well as de-brief you on your suit. Madame, this is Tess. She will do the  
same." Jessie and James nodded as their own scientists took then by the arm  
and lead them into their own rooms. Jessie and James shared one last  
glance and smiled as they were led into the rooms.

***  
Charles closed the door behind him and walked over to the metal cupboard  
on the opposite side of the wall. James followed suit.

"If you don't mind me saying sir, you are a big influence on me." Charles told  
James. James was surprised.

"Influence?" Charles now turned around.

"Yes. I've read about all of your past missions, even before the Pikachu  
incidents. The missions were amazing." James smiled.

"Thank you." He replied. Charles then walked over to a large bowl on and  
poured in a black liquid. It filled the bowl to the top. James looked nervous  
once again.

"What's that for?"

"That's your suit!"

"Huh?"

"Strip naked."

***

"WHAT?" Jessie screamed. Tess backed up slightly.

"Please take off your clothes." Jessie was now fuming. She was just standing  
in a room, along with this woman, when suddenly she pours black liquid into a  
bowl and asks her to strip naked.

"YOU WANT ME NAKED?"

"It's not what it seems," Tess replied slightly nervously. "I suppose I'd better  
explain this to you."

"You better" Jessie said, crossing her arms.

"Have you ever heard of a Ditto?" Tess asked.

***

"Yeah, why?" James answered.

"Well it can change into any shape it desires right?" James nodded.

"Well that is the principle behind this suit. Based on Ditto DNA, we were able  
to create a substance that can change into any shape or form by the will of its  
owner."

***  
"What?" Asked Jessie, stumped.

"For this to work, the liquid has to be in contact with the human skin. It can  
then manipulate itself to form over the body and create a 'shell' for the owner.  
Then it connects with you mentally, and whenever you 'will' it to change, it will  
change to whatever you desire."

Jessie was now completely confused.

"Believe me, everything will be ok when you step into the liquid." Jessie  
nodded her head, and stepped around the door of the changing room.

"I'm sorry this has to be so degrading for you, but it's the only way to get the  
suit on you." Tess saw the black dress Jessie was wearing thrown over the  
top of the dressing room wall. Soon followed the thigh high boots and the arm  
length gloves.

"Now before you come out Jessie, I need to tell you this. I will turn around so  
that you can step into the suit. Just step into the bowl and the suit will take  
over." At this point Tess turned around. Jessie poked her head around the  
door of the changing room and walked out into the room, slightly self-  
conscious about being naked. She stepped into the large bowl, and into the  
black liquid.

"Wow, that's cold." The, the liquid took over.

***  
Both Jessie and James, in their separate rooms, stepped into the large bowls.  
Immediately the black liquid began to spread up their legs and over their hips.  
It spread up to their chests and then down the arms. It continued to spread up  
the body until it reached the top of the neck. There it stopped. It still remained  
liquid on the body. Their whole body was now covered. Suddenly, the liquid  
hardened into a rubber suit. The transformation was complete.

***

Jessie and James walked out of their rooms at the same time to find the other  
walking out in a tight, skin tight, black costume. Immediately, the scientist  
walked over.

"Ahh good. The transformation was a success. Now remember, you must  
keep these suits on for the remainder of the mission. Taking these off will  
make them useless, and you will not be able to put them back on."

"Why would I wanna take this off? I'm NAKED under here!" Jessie spoke out  
aloud.

"True. Well, have you been debriefed?"

"Partly" James answered.

"Well basically, the suits will do whatever you tell it to do. Just simply,  
mentally, tell it to do something, and it will be done. Try it!" The scientist  
explained. Jessie was going to be first. She thought for a second, and then  
clicked her fingers. She closed her eyes and thought hard. Suddenly her right  
hand morphed into that of a blade of a sword. She opened her eyes in  
surprise.

"WOW! That's amazing!"

"My turn, my turn!" James eagerly said. He closed his eyes. Immediately, a  
set of wings spawned out of his back. Slowly the veins began to run through  
the wings and the tips began to become sharp, turning into bladed wings.  
Jessie jumped back in surprise.

"Wow!" Jessie let out. The scientist then jumped in.

"But James, you realise that you can only use those wings to glide. Not  
actually fly."

"Sure," Jessie and James looked at each other.

"Jessie, ready to kick some butt?" James asked.

"More now than ever!" Jessie replied. They then stood side by side. Jessie's  
arm was now a sword, with her shoes that have now morphed into high heel  
shoes. The fingers on her left hand were now as sharp as claws. James'  
wings were now apparent and he had morphed his legs so that blades were  
on the back of them. They were now the ultimate fighting duo.

"Prepare for trouble,"  
"And Make it double."

-=-=-=-

Exhausted, the female slumped into her swivel chair. She yawned silently as  
she reached across to grab her coffee mug. Gripping the handle through the  
leather of her gloves, she picked it up and brought the mug to her mouth. She  
sipped, gently, expecting the drink to be very hot. In fact it was ice cold.  
"Cold coffee, disgusting." The silence was interrupted by the static call of the  
computer.  
"Ring-ring, ring-ring, phone call! Phone call!" The computer shouted out. She  
placed the coffee mug back on the table next to her. Immediately a white  
glove reached out for the handset, and picked it up. She flicked her green hair  
out of her face, and spoke clearly into the handset whilst focusing her face to  
the monitor in front of her. It flickered slightly before an image of a female in a  
white dress, pink blouse and a white hat with a pink cross-appeared. Her  
circular bunches of hair bounced as the female on the screen sat down to  
talk.

"Viridian City Police Force, Officer Jenny speaking. What's the problem Nurse  
Joy?" Nurse Joy replied as quick as she could.

"Officer Jenny, there's something wrong with all of our Pokémon..." She  
replied, obviously puffed out.

"Uh, Nurse Joy, not meaning to be mean but, isn't that your problem?"

"No, no you don't understand. All of our Pokémon are slowly receding into  
comas. We have scanned them, and it's like the life is being sucked out of  
them!" Officer Jenny was now becoming increasingly worried.

"I'm sorry? They're, just losing their life?"

"To some extent yes!"  
"Do you know the cause of this?"

"Unfortunately, no. I was hoping that you could help." Officer Jenny, still  
holding the handset, grabbed the keys next to the monitor.  
"I'll be down ASAP."

"Oh thank you Officer" Nurse Joy replied as the monitor flickered and turned  
off. Officer Jenny replaced the handset. She stood up and wheeled the chair  
out of her way. She ran out of the small police office and jumped onto her  
bike. She inserted the keys into the ignition. The bike started up, and she  
sped away, the Pokémon Centre being her destination.

Eventually, Officer Jenny reached the Pokémon Centre, only to find chaos.  
As she walked through the doors of the hospital, there was a giant crowd all  
holding their individual Pokémon. The sight was disturbing. All of the  
Pokémon were limp. They were lifeless. It was like they were.... dead.

Officer Jenny reached up to her chest pocket, pulled out a whistle, pulled it up  
to her mouth, and blew as hard as she could. The high-pitched shriek made  
everyone cringe.

"OK PEOPLE, your Pokémon will not be treated any quicker if you push and  
shove. There are 5 people on duty, get into lines, NOW!" Jenny ordered.  
Immediately everyone did what he or she was told. However, there was still a  
squabble at the front of one of the queues. As Officer Jenny made her way to  
the front, she could see whom it was. Jessie and James of Team Rocket.

"You have to treat our Meowth now! We need him!" Jessie screamed out.

"He's not just our Pokémon, he's our friend." James argued.

"Oh cut the rubbish Team Rocket." Both Jessie and James turned around.  
Officer Jenny then noticed how they were dressed.

"Uh, Jessie, James, in some cities your dress code would be illegal." Jessie  
and James looked bemused until they looked down at their clothes. They  
hadn't bothered to change the suits into other forms of clothing. It was still  
skin tight. Jessie blushed and her face went completely red, James smiled  
then turned back to Nurse Joy.  
"Look, I can only put your Pokémon in one of our Dream-Induced units called  
Chrono Chambers"

"What's that?" James asked.

"It's a relatively new machine. We put the injured Pokémon into this unit and  
they fall asleep instantly. However, they are put into a kind of stasis. Their  
heart rate is lowered to such a low level; their body can concentrate more on  
healing the body rather than keeping it alive. For them, time stands still.  
Effectively, Meowth will not exist, but he will. It's very complicated..."

"You're KILLING Meowth?" Jessie answered.

"No! Only, helping it. Please, if you want your Pokémon to survive." Nurse Joy  
held out her hands, waiting for Meowth to be placed in them. Jessie and  
James looked at each other, and nodded. James held over Meowth, and both  
Jessie and James walked away, leaving Nurse Joy behind them tending to  
Meowth.

People were still screaming and shouting as their Pokémon became worse.  
More people kept entering. James sighed.

"What do you think happened to those Pokémon Jess?"

"I don't know, but it must be something to do with our mission." James  
nodded. They both continued to walk down the street. "So what now?" Jessie  
asked.

"I suppose we use the machinery we have to try to find the source of those  
Psyonic activities."

"Let's do that." Jessie replied, still not getting what the word Psyonic meant.  
James could see the confusion in her face. He smiled as he thought that  
Jessie looked cute at that exact moment. Both Jessie and James continued  
to walk down the street, with people running past them to get to the Pokémon  
centre. They both then came to their alleyway. James began to walk into it,  
before Jessie stopped him.

"I'll get the bike, back in a second." James nodded and leant against the  
building next to the entrance. Jessie walked into the darkness. Jessie took big  
long strides down the alleyway, looking out for the bikes. She could smell the  
dirt and the sewers here. It disgusted her completely. Suddenly she spotted a  
small shiny object. It was one of the wheels of the motorcycle. She walked  
closer only to find that there was a group of 6 men huddling around it. They  
were inspecting it, and talking.

"Imagine how much moola you could get with this baby." One said.

"I haven't even seen it before."

"That's because it's mine." Jessie replied. All of the men turned to face  
Jessie. They were all typical villains in the city, and wore ragged and torn  
clothes. One male walked forward from the gang. Jessie guessed that he was  
the leader. She stood defiantly, legs slightly apart, hands balled up into fists  
and her eyes dead set into the man's. He smiled as he noticed her skin-tight  
suit.

"Hey baby," One said.  
"Hey chickpea," another continued.  
"You spray that suit on baby?" the man said, sitting on the bike. The leader  
walked closer to Jessie.  
"You look cold baby, we'll warm you up. We'll warm you up good!" The gang  
leader lunged out and grabbed Jessie's wrist. She let him. Now he was  
standing a few feet in front of her, holding Jessie's out stretched arm. She  
then snapped her arm back, out of his grip.

"Hoo! A feisty one fellas!" The leader said. The others laughed. The gang  
leader pulled out a large, 6-inch knife. His smile widened. "This is not the only  
thing that's 6 inches," he said. Jessie smiled.

"Humph," she pouted. Jessie crossed her arms and bent her left knee. "I'm  
bored now." Jessie walked up to one of the other guys around her bike. She  
touched his shoulder. "I'm also hungry"

"For what honey?" Jessie smiled more. She faced the leader of the group.  
She leant her neck to the left as her black suit suddenly extended to cover  
her face and hair, completely engulfing her body. Her face could still be made  
out. Suddenly she opened her eyes and snapped her head back to facing the  
men. Her eyes were now burning red. Small horns spouted from the sides of  
her face, creating a line of horns. Her hair spread apart and turned into  
snakes, also with red eyes. Jessie opened her mouth to reveal sharp pointed  
teeth along with a lizard tongue. Her right hand turned into a giant claw as her  
left arm turned completely into a sword like shape. She roared.

"FOR A FIGHT" She screamed in a deep, monster like voice. The gang  
screamed and ran past Jessie and out of the alley.

James heard a roar from inside the alley and jumped a little. He pushed  
himself off the wall to look in, only to find 6 tall, very frightened men run out  
screaming and crying. His eyes followed them running down the street. His  
vision returned to that of Jessie on the motorcycle waiting for James. Jessie  
was back to normal.

"What was that about?" James asked. Jessie smiled. She stepped off the  
motorcycle.  
"Just a little fun." She replied. James chuckled a little before sitting down onto  
the driver's seat of the bike. Jessie sat on the seat behind James. As he leant  
forward to grab the handles of the bike, he felt Jessie's hands slide around  
his waist. Her left hand clasped his waist and her right hand slid up his black  
suit to hug his chest. She held onto him tightly and rested her head on the  
back of his left shoulder, her face facing his neck. She breathed gently and  
she saw the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. James closed his  
eyes in the pleasure from Jessie's breath. He blushed slightly as he looked  
down to see Jessie's hands holding him. James furiously blushed and looked  
back up to the street before him. His black suit liquefied slightly as it covered  
his head and created a motorcycle helmet. Jessie moved her head and  
rested her chin on his shoulder. Her suit did the same by sprouting a helmet.  
James revved the bike engine and sped off down the road leaving a cloud of  
disturbed dust.

-=-=-=-

Butch sat down in his office writing on large pieces of paper under a bright  
halogen lamp. It had been 5 hours since their first successful transfer of  
energy into Cassidy. Everything had gone as planned. All the powers, energy  
and agility had been transferred from Alakazam straight into Cassidy. In  
essence, Cassidy was super-human. She was both human and Pokémon in  
her mind. She had all the characteristics of a human, and had the mind of a  
human. Added to that is now all of the Pokémon's ability and powers. After a  
few scans, it was sent hat Cassidy was now using 38% of her brain capacity.  
She was a higher state of human evolution. She was, better. Butch had to  
make adjustments to the main machine in order to take the power of all the  
Pokémon in existence. After all, that was their goal. They had tried earlier to  
suck all the energy from the Pokémon from nearby cities, and transfer them  
into his own body. However, they had taken a portion of each individual  
Pokémon's powers in nearby cities, but had distributed them into the Earth's  
atmosphere. The calculations were wrong, and Butch was un-affected. After  
some investigation, every single Pokémon had fallen weak. It would take a  
few days, a week at the most for them to get their energy back.

They had almost done it.

Butch was in the middle of figuring out an equation when he felt a tugging at  
his pencil. He let it go and instantly it flew across the room, to hit the wall  
opposite the door.

"Uh oh,"  
A few more objects had been pulled of his desk and hit the wall with a smash.  
Suddenly the door to his office flew open. It opened away from him, and the  
interesting thing was that he couldn't see a hand of anything to open it.  
Cassidy then stormed through. She walked over to Butch's desk and  
slammed her fist down onto the table. She screamed.  
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"  
"What?" He replied, backing away slightly as he saw the table bending under  
the pressure. He didn't feel like having to pick splinters out of his legs after  
the table crushes him.  
"YOU KNOW FULL WELL! GIOVANNI IS ON OUR CASES!" Butch looked  
into Cassidy's eyes. Beautiful as they were, they were red and angry.  
"Uh, Team Rocket? They know about us?"  
"YES THEY KNOW!" Cassidy then looked to her right as she heard thoughts  
from two scientists standing outside, listening to their conversation. She stood  
upright, held out her right arm facing the door and whipped her arm back to  
her chest. Instantaneously the door slammed shut. Butch looked at the door,  
then Cassidy.  
"Gee, MENTAL NOTE," he replied rather loudly, giving emphasis on 'mental  
note'. "Never piss you off..." He said out loud.  
"Good idea" She replied.  
"Do we know what agents are after us?"  
"Unfortunately, no. Our operatives at the Team Rocket HQ couldn't find out.  
All hush-hush" she replied once again. Butch raised an eyebrow.  
"We must be real competition." Cassidy smirked.  
"We are Butch, we are." Cassidy walked around the desk butch was sitting at.  
She stood next to him then jumped up to sit on the edge of the desk. She  
moved her head to look down at Butch. He looked up into her face. Her eyes  
had returned to normal now. She looked beautiful with the curves of her face  
and the colour of her lipstick. The light was shining off her long, blonde,  
sensuous hair, and it made her look angelic. Cassidy realised that Butch was  
staring into her eyes longingly, but she didn't care. She knew he loved her  
and she loved him.

She had found out that he loved her only a few hours before. While she was  
playing around with her mental powers, Cassidy delved into the mind of  
Butch. Immediately, she saw herself. He was madly in love with her. Cassidy  
was shocked at first, but then found herself in love with Butch. She had  
always been in love with him. She did have the guts to tell him, but knew that  
he didn't. So she kept leaving him in suspense. She also didn't tell him, as  
she liked to tease him. She jumped off the desk and stepped behind Butch.  
She bent over slightly and draped her arms around his neck. Cassidy moved  
her head over to his left shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"Is there anything that you want to tell me, Butch?" She could feel him  
shaking now. She smiled.  
"W-well there's the f-fact that the machine will be ready in a, a while." He  
stuttered. She whispered again.  
"No, something else?" With her right hand she brushed the back of his head.  
She then kissed his neck slightly. He jumped at that. Cassidy then stood  
upright and spun Butch's chair around. He was now facing her. She moved  
forward and sat down on his lap with her legs wrapped around him and the  
back of the chair. They were now face to face, their noses almost touching.  
"Perhaps this will help you."  
Cassidy kissed him passionately.  
Her hands ran through his hair as she kissed him full on. After a few  
moments, she realised that Butch wasn't kissing back. He wasn't doing  
anything at all. She opened her eyes whilst still kissing him. He had his eyes  
closed.  
*Good sign* she thought. She broke off the kiss and looked at him. He  
opened his eyes again.

"Butch? Butch what's wrong?" He didn't answer. "Butch?" He tried to reply for  
a few seconds. Obviously startled. He finally regained his speech and spoke  
aloud.  
"This, this, well this is unexpected."  
"You think!"  
"Well, yes. I thought you only liked me as a friend."  
"Butch, it's only recently that I've actually noticed you. When I think back, I  
realised that you had been staring at me a lot. Plus you got me all those gifts  
for no reason. I just put it down to one thing. You loved me. I have been  
slowly falling in love with you over these years."  
"Ditto" he replied. "I love you Cassidy. I love the way you look. The shape of  
your face, the glint in your eyes, the blonde in your hair, the curves of your  
body..."  
"Curves of my body?" She replied. An evil grin washed over her face.  
"Uh, heh" he weakly replied. Blushing.  
"Let's kiss." On cue, they began to kiss again but this time, Butch was in  
control. He kissed back whilst his hands were running up and down her back.  
He then moved his hands to her face and placed his palms on her cheeks. He  
could feel her shivering. He hoped it wasn't from the cold. He was about to  
get bolder when suddenly the door burst open.

"Excuse me sir but I'd like to...uh."  
Cassidy jumped off Butch. Butch spun around wiping Cassidy's lipstick off his  
face with his cuff. Cassidy licked her lips as she fixed her hair. The worker  
who had walked in on this scene was now quite happy. He could also see  
how angry both Cassidy and Butch were.  
"What is it Michael?" Cassidy said bluntly whilst applying clips back into her  
hair. Michael coughed to get out his words.  
"Uh, the final checks on the machine are completed. We're ready for your  
look over." Butch looked over to Cassidy, still trying to fix herself up.  
"I'll catch you up," She told him. Butch looked down at his feet and swore  
quietly. He looked up towards Michael with a smile.  
"Let's get on with it!" He replied. He walked out of the room closing the door  
behind him. Butch walked alongside Michael leaving Cassidy in the office re-  
applying her lipstick for the rest of the day.

-=-=-=-

The picture had been taken while the snow had been falling. It was taken in  
mid-winter with the last, and only roll of film. Both females were standing side-  
by-side, arm in arm, laughing. Their faces filled with happiness. The house  
could be seen in the background of the photo. The house being made of  
wood, squirrels were perched on the roof. The trees behind the wooden  
house were slightly out of focus, but just being out of focus made the photo  
become more realistic, and alive. The tall females purple hair flowed down  
her body and slightly to her left, as it was being blown by the wind. The  
smaller, younger female was facing away from the wind, her red hair flowing  
both sides of her. Splitting up her hair as the wind hit it. The arm of the older  
female was draped around the shoulder of the younger female, and hugging  
slightly. The younger redhead held the older hand with her own and  
squeezed. The white snow could be clearly seen as it fell in front, behind and  
either side of the two females. The trees behind their house swayed with the  
wind, the leaves breaking off and taking a new path, falling towards the  
ground.

A teardrop fell onto the picture and slid down the glass of the frame. It was  
swiftly wiped away by the smooth hands of another female.

Jessie held the photo in her trembling hands. Sniffing and breathing  
erratically, Jessie closed her eyes. The younger female was Jessie. The older  
female in the picture was Miyamato, her mother. Jessie opened her eyes  
once again, and stroked the side of her mother's face with her thumb. Jessie  
continued to try to hold back the tears, but failing miserably. She cried  
uncontrollably.

James sat comfortably in the wooden chair reading his book on "The Ethics of  
Pokémon Capture". Turning the page slowly, he contemplated the thought of  
never being able to capture Pikachu. He thought about how Jessie, Meowth  
and himself might never end this mission; about how they may never even  
get promoted; how they never had any luck...  
That was all going to change though. With the new suits that he and Jessie  
had, the twerps would have no chance. They would finish their new mission  
and then finish off the twerps, in a good way. Only stealing Pikachu.

James continued to stare at the densely worded pages. He turned his head  
slightly as he heard small sniffles coming from behind him. Thinking it was his  
over-active imagination he dismissed the noise. Seconds later, a loud cry  
could be heard from the next room, Jessie's room. James spun his head  
around to look into the bedroom. He turned his head to place his book on the  
glass table in front of him and stood up to make his way to Jessie. Walking  
into the bedroom he thought back to the moment when he first found her like  
this. Jessie sobbing over her mother wasn't exactly out of the ordinary. He  
had caught her like this many a time but he had always left as Jessie always  
hit him. He soon found out that Jessie didn't like James seeing her cry. He  
normally stayed out of these situations, but this time he was compelled to  
move in.

"Jessie?" He asked as he poked his head around the door. Sure enough,  
Jessie was sitting on the end of the bed crying over the picture of her mother.  
She stayed still, slightly twitching as she cried uncontrollably. James called  
out her name again. This time, she heard.

"Go away." She whispered. James took a step back, but then carried on  
walking over to her. He sat next to her.  
"Jessie, I'm here you know."

Jessie continued to cry and think about her mother. She didn't want James to  
see her like this. However, she didn't want to hit him this time. She didn't want  
to hurt him.

{He doesn't care}  
Jessie lifted her head. A Voice suddenly spoke to her, and it wasn't James.  
The voice spoke inside her head. She looked up in front of her, to see if  
anyone else was there.  
{He doesn't really mean it. He hates you}  
Jessie jumped a little. Something was speaking in her head. She couldn't  
hear a voice, or hear the sound if it, the words just appeared in her head,  
from no-where.

"Jessie? Are you ok?" James asked. Jessie looked at him.  
{Ignore him}  
Jessie decided to reply somehow. She went with a hunch, and thought.

*No. I...I...don't want to*  
{HE HATES YOU. Why else would he be in here? He's here to humiliate you!}  
*No, he's here to help me*  
James reached out to Jessie and touched her shoulder. She flinched. Jessie  
continued to stare into her hands. Her crying had stopped. She now had a  
vacant look on her face.

{You know what you want to do. Hit him. Beat him. KILL HIM}  
*NO! I LOVE HIM! *  
{You don't love him. You HATE him}  
*I...I...hate him*  
{That's right! You know what he's like! He really loves that Jessebelle! }  
*Yes, yes. He loves her. Hates me. He deserves punishment. *  
{You're coming around}  
*Go away James...*  
{He won't}  
*Go away...*  
{He won't, ever}

Once again, James reached out to touch Jessie.  
"Jess, are you ok?" He touched her arm. She flinched again and shot James  
an evil look. Before James could even react more, he found himself flying  
across the room into the bookshelf. The bookshelf collapsed and snapped in  
half as he hit it. Falling to the floor he let out a loud groan.

"What the...?" he looked back up to Jessie. If he could have run at that point,  
he would have. Jessie was now angry. He could see the adrenaline rushing  
through her body. The suit was reacting to her rage. It began to swell up, all  
of her muscles increasing in size.

"GO AWAY" She screamed as she lunged at James. Instinctively James  
dodged out of the way as Jessie slammed into the wall. James rushed into  
the living room of their small, rented flat. He turned to see Jessie staring at  
him.

{She hates you}  
The voice appeared in James' head. James shook his head, and looked at  
Jessie rushing towards him. Everything was in slow motion now.  
{Look at her. You hate her}  
James shook his head again, and then spoke aloud.  
"No, I don't!"  
{Think to me you imbecile!}  
James did just that.  
*I don't hate her*  
{You do. She hates you}  
*No*  
{She still loves that weedy boy from her younger years}  
*What? *  
{Kill her}  
Slowly James changed his mind about Jessie. Something was happening and  
he didn't know what.  
{Kill her. She wants to kill you}  
*Yes, kill her*  
{Do it}  
*...*  
{DO IT!}

Jessie charged at James. James charged at Jessie. The rage was now  
flowing through them. All the bent up aggression they had from their whole  
life was being exported through violence. Jessie lunged at James, however  
James dived to the floor and threw Jessie behind him.

***

"And this Week on Jenny Jones, couples in love, who FIGHT!" Cheers  
erupted from the television as a loving couple cuddled up with each other.  
The dainty blonde looked up at her boyfriend. With loving eyes, she asked  
him a question.

"You love me right?"  
"Sure babe!"  
"Would you fight with me?"  
"No, of course not." He planted a kiss on her forehead. "You're my ickle  
bear!" The blonde giggled. The TV continued to scream abuse. Then, on the  
screen, Jenny Jones appeared.

"If you know of a couple who fight all the time, please call us and we'll try to  
help then on air! You'll even get a reward for helping someone's life! You'll be  
able to come on the show next week as well!"

The male continued to stare at the screen.  
"Oh, like people will ring them up just for a mention on TV..." he said.  
"You wouldn't do that would you?"  
"Never. Plus, we don't know any couples who fight..."

Immediately, the wall next to them exploded. The couple cuddled each other  
for protection, and then looked up into the dust cloud that was slowly  
disappearing. There, lying in the rubble of bricks was Jessie. She got up and  
dusted herself off. The couple continued to stare.

"Come here baby, I've got a present for you!" Jessie jumped back through the  
hole in the wall. The blonde girl looked back after Jessie.

"What the? Wayne? You get this?" There was no answer. "Wayne?" As she  
turned around she saw her boyfriend diving for the phone.

***

Jessie ducked as James' bladed hand swung for her. Spinning around,  
James also turned his hand into sword. He lunged for Jessie, but missed.  
Jessie narrowly escaped that.

{That's right. Kill her. Do it! }  
James was full of anger.  
{She hates you}  
He had energy running through his body like never before.  
{Why would you want her to live?}  
He began to think. Things were not right.  
{KILL JESSIE}  
It was those two words that snapped James back to reality.  
*What? *  
{KILL HER!}  
*NO! *  
James ducked as Jessie dived for him. James began to clear his head. He  
didn't know what was happening.

"JESSIE! NO!" Jessie dived again. This time she smacked into him. He fell  
onto his back onto the floor and she proceeded to cover him. Her knees  
landed on either side of his hips as she angrily stared over him. Her hair fell  
over her face and into James'. From that position, James realised why he fell  
in love with her. She was beautiful. The corves of her face made her hair fall  
gently, and evenly. He continued to stare at her until he realised that Jessie's  
hands were cutting off his air supply to his brain. She was strangling him. The  
anger could be seen in her eyes. James grabbed her hands and desperately  
tried to talk.  
"Jessie! Stop! It's not you!"  
She continued to strangle him.  
"Jessie, I love you!"

At that moment, the hate disappeared from Jessie's eyes. She now had a  
puzzled expression on her face, as well as slight amusement. She shook her  
head.  
"What?"  
"I-I love you Jessie. I've loved you from the first day I met you. You hair, your  
face.... you're beautiful."  
It was then that James noticed Jessie fully blushing. It took her a while to  
reply. Still sitting over him, kneeling on either side of his hips, she replied.  
"James, I have a confession too. I love you as well"  
"Really? That so -" James was cut off by Jessie clamping down on his lips  
and passionately kissing him. She pulled off.  
"I feel so vulnerable in this position" He said. Immediately he grabbed  
Jessie's thighs, rolled her over using his own body weight and was now  
leaning over Jessie, kneeling either side of her hips, whilst he pinned her  
down on the floor holding her hands above her head.

Jessie's hands were now pinned on the floor above her head, and the weight  
of James stopped her from moving.  
"That's better" James smirked.  
"Oh James" Jessie replied, seductively smiling as James resumed the kiss,  
blatantly ignoring the destruction they had caused around them. They were  
suddenly interrupted by another guy walking into the room through the hole in  
the wall. It was the boyfriend of the blonde girl.

"AHEM" he coughed. Jessie and James looked at him. His blonde girlfriend  
was standing behind, giggling slightly with a slight blush on her face.  
"What?" Jessie and James said in unison, slightly annoyed.  
"You guys free next week?"

-=-=-=-

Gently Meowth stirred. He lay comfortably on the small mattress provided for  
him in the Chrono Chamber. His heart was now beating slower and slower as  
his energy became more drained.  
He lay there, dreaming, unaware of the situation around him. The hospital  
was now full up. Pokémon from all over the city had been pouring in.  
Pokémon were being shot down in their prime. They were all dying. It was an  
epidemic. Meowth lay there, aware of who was staring at him with caring  
eyes. Nurse Joy felt helpless. She and her sisters were clueless on the  
Pokémon illness phenomenon. There she sat, on one chair on the edge of a  
huge, massive room. All around here were thousands of small units, stacked  
on top of each other, 8 units high. The room was huge, spanning half of a  
mile alone. Next to her was the central computer. If a certain Pokémon's life  
signs deteriorated, then the computer would tell Nurse Joy right away. She  
would then tend to the Pokémon in question. However, the room at the  
moment was silent. All that could be heard was the buzzing of the lights and  
the humming of the fan spinning around in the giant computer, keeping the  
CPU from over heating.

She stared down the endless corridor full of Chrono Chambers. Nurse Joys  
emotions were soon sky rocketing. One moment, she was angry that no one  
could find out what was happening, then another moment she would be  
scared because of the eerie silence. Her job was to help every living creature,  
be that human or Pokémon. It wasn't her job to sit around and watch living  
creatures die. It was so inhumane. Soon enough Nurse joy was lost in  
concentrated thought. Seeing all of the dying Pokémon around her, she  
thought back, without even trying, to the first time a Pokémon died in her  
care.

Her first casualty, Her first patient, Her first death...

***

"First day on the job eh?" questioned the women leaning against the desk.  
"It is actually, I've just come out of Med. School"  
"Heh, good luck to you." The tall female took another sip of her coffee,  
holding the mug very carefully with her leather-gloved hand. Officer Jenny  
placed the mug down on the reception desk and looked over to Nurse Joy  
once again. As she said, Nurse Joy was fresh out of Med School and was  
barely 19. It was her first day as head nurse of the Pokémon Hospital. She  
had a lot of responsibility to take on. For the owner before her was a master.  
Officer Jenny spoke aloud once more.  
"So, do you think you can live up to the name of the previous nurse?"  
Nurse Joy was standing behind the counter, sorting out papers, books and  
pens. It was her first day and she wanted everything to go right. She looked  
up to Officer Jenny and blushed slightly. They both giggled.  
"Well my aunt was an established nurse like me. I can only do my best!"  
Officer Jenny squinted her eyes as she looked at the nurse.  
"You bare a striking resemblance to her though..."  
"Our whole family looks the same, almost. I'm the pretty one!" She modestly  
announced. Again, she giggled.

It was then that the red light flashed in the top left hand corner of that room.  
The alarms sounded. Officer Jenny stepped back, a little startled. She spun  
around as she heard a large table being pushed through the main entrance. It  
was a medical stretcher with a Meowth on it being pushed by two men. She  
gasped as she caught a glimpse of the battered Pokémon. It was hardly  
recognisable.  
"Injured Meowth. Meowth's been heavily damaged in a fight with an Onix.  
Onix was improperly trained, and wouldn't let up when the trainer ordered it  
to..."

Nurse Joy ran from behind the reception desk over to the Meowth. She took  
one look at it before calling over her Chansey.  
Nurse Joy wanted to be sick.  
"Oh my..."  
Immediately Nurse Joy pushed the trolley into the medical ward. At the same  
time Officer Jenny rushed over to comfort the boy who owned the Meowth.  
The boy was only 9 years old.  
"Chansey, Lung-Decom stat!" She shouted. Instantaneously her Chansey ran  
over and passed Joy the small machine. Nurse Joy attached the machine to  
Meowth's chest and mouth. Four Chansey's were now in the room, hurrying  
to help this Meowth. The heart monitor was hooked up to his frail chest and  
immediately the beeps filled the room.  
"6 CC's of Nucleic fluid! STAT! " Joy ordered. Within a few seconds a syringe  
was placed into her hand, full of a green liquid. She pushed the needle into  
the chest of the Pokémon and pushed the liquid through. "Don't you quit on  
me Meowth, not on my first day..."

The beeps continued to fill the room. Slowly becoming more distant.

"Quickly, pass the resuscitator"  
Suddenly, Meowth started to convulse. Spasms rippled through its body.  
"No," Nurse Joy could only manage that word. She, along with another  
Chansey, tried to hold down the limbs, to stop it from hurting itself. But then,  
the heart monitor stopped.  
Meowth fell limp.  
Joy continued to hold Meowth.  
A continuous beep filled the air.  
Meowth flat lined.  
Meowth died.

***

No other Pokémon had died since then. Nurse Joy had made sure of that.  
She couldn't take another death. It was now her 9th year at the Pokémon  
Hospital. 9 years since that Meowth had died, and now here she was caring  
for another, or at least trying to. She chuckled to herself as she realised the  
situation she was in. She had told herself that she would never let another  
Pokémon die in her hospital again, and here she was sitting in the Chrono  
room with a few hundred dying Pokémon. She couldn't save them all. She  
couldn't even try to help them. If she took them out of the chambers, they  
would die instantaneously.

Nurse Joy then began thinking of all the owners who had brought their  
Pokémon in. They put their trust in her, and now their Pokémon were to die.  
She wouldn't be able to have the courage to tell hundreds of people that their  
Pokémon had died. There would be uproar in the city that even the police  
would not be able to hold. It was all going to fall to pieces.

Nurse Joy got up from her seat on the small box, and walked over to a proper  
wooden chair a few feet away. She sat down, bent forward slightly and rested  
her elbows on her thighs. She placed her face into her palms.

She cried.

-=-=-=-

"And so sir, that completes the inspection of the machine. It is all ready for  
your needs." The technician finished. Scribbling down a few more notes on  
his clipboard, he looked up to his approving bosses. Cassidy was standing  
next to Butch with her arm around his waist. She snuggled closely to him,  
squeezing him slightly with her arm. Butch had his right hand around her  
waist also, but then moved his hand from her hip to the right hand side of her  
face. He brushed her right cheek ever so slightly and then began to stroke  
her softly on the underside of her right jaw with the back of his hand. Almost  
like a cat, she purred in approval. Butch diverted his attention from the huge  
machine in front of him to Cassidy. She was moving her head along with his  
hand, like a cat, with her eyes closed. He fell deeper in love with her.

"AHEM," the engineer coughed. Butch looked back to the man, with Cassidy  
still enjoying the sensations Butch was giving her. "Sorry sir, but the machine  
is ready according to the specifications. However, it's a requirement to ask  
whether you want anything changed or added."

Butch thought for a few moments, then answered.  
"It's fine. It's all what we planned. Good work. Now, show me another test."  
"Sir?"  
"Do what you did to Cassidy, to me"  
"Aye Sir." Butch watched the man as he ran outside, immediately ordering  
other workers to set up the machine. Butch looked back to Cassidy. She was  
now staring at him with an evil grin on her face.  
"Uh, Cass, what have you got planned?" She squinted her eyes a little, then  
opened them fully again, in slight shock. "What?" Butch asked bewildered.  
She turned to face him fully.  
"Wow Butch, I never thought you dreamt of me doing that to you..."  
"What?" Butch said with confusion, but then it suddenly dawned on him on  
what Cassidy was on about. His face flushed red. She had read his thoughts.  
His most intimate thoughts about Cassidy. "Uh, yes. Uh, heh, you know I  
don't mean..."

Cassidy placed a finger onto his lips and he stopped talking.  
"Shh, you never let me finish." Cassidy spoke. There was a nervous silence  
in the air. Cassidy looked at Butch's chest and then to her right. The evil smile  
once again flashed across her face as she looked back into his eyes. "I'll do  
it." She decided. Butch's face lit up.  
"Really?"  
"Yeah" she replied with a seductive but mischievous look in her face. She  
looked over his shoulder and stared at the door. Immediately it flew shut, and  
the lock twisted into place. Butch put both of his arms around her and she did  
the same to him. She kissed him on the lips and bit his tongue slightly. She  
loosened her grip and pulled off. Butch then began to kiss Cassidy's neck  
slightly and gently. She moaned but then pushed him off.  
"Hey, I'm supposed to be concentrating on you!" She kissed him on the lips  
once again as they both laid on the floor. "No-one can disturb us this time..."

-=-=-=-

Jessie awoke to the sound of the birds singing that morning. Slowly opening  
her eyes, adjusting to the sunlight shining through the window. The thin sheet  
of the bedclothes moulded to her body as well as the body of her partner  
James. It was the morning after the night before. That night James had  
declared his love for Jessie, properly. He spent a full twenty-five minutes  
talking about how Jessie was his soul mate. She was overwhelmed. She  
knew that James had feelings for her, but she didn't know that his desire was  
so huge. It wasn't like she hated it. Of course she loved him immensely, ever  
since Pokémon Technical. It was Jessie who made the first move. She had  
kissed him again. But it was James who made the surprise movement. He  
had picked Jessie up in her arms, her arms around his neck, and her legs  
and back being supported by James' hands. He had carried Jessie to their  
bedroom and it was then that they physically declared their love for each  
other. That night they had become one.

Jessie smiled as she thought about the night before. Never before had she  
loved James so much. She loved him even more now. She looked at James'  
face sleeping in front of her own. His arm was still hugging her and her leg  
was still over his. Slowly she slipped from his grip and got out of bed.  
Realising that there were no curtains in the window, and that she had no  
clothes, she grabbed a dry towel from the cupboard, wrapped it around  
herself and made it to the shower.

It was when she stepped into the cold stream of water that she noticed the  
suit had disappeared from her body. She panicked slightly before realising  
that it had shaped into a watch and was on her right wrist.

As the water ran over her body, an emotion suddenly hit her. She began to  
cry uncontrollably. Jessie dropped to the floor of the shower and curled up  
into a ball in the corner. Jessie whole life had been empty. Her mother had  
died when Jessie was a pre-teen, and since then she had a hole in her heart.  
Nothing could fill it, and she was alone. Even when she was around her own  
friends, she felt alone. However, when she first laid eyes on James, part of  
that hole filled up. The first time she had seen him was in the front ground of  
Pokémon Technical. It was her first day, but it was already 4 weeks into the  
first term. Everyone had made friends with each other. All of the kids had  
formed their own groups. Jessie was the new kid. It would take her a long  
time to settle.

It was at lunch break when she noticed James chatting to his friends next to  
the swing. Jessie instantly fell for him. His blue hair was heavenly. His green  
eyes were so deep yet so soothing. He was also so popular. James was  
every girl's dream. But then things took a terrible twist. Some boys had  
noticed Jessie as well. They had made their way over to her and began to  
torment her.

Without any warning, they had begun to push her around on the floor. It was  
a gang of boys the same age as her. However they were slightly taller. Jessie  
back then didn't stand up for herself. She was alone. The gang had continued  
to push her around, and one would pull her up off the floor by her hair only to  
throw her back on the floor. It was when Jessie screamed in pain that things  
had changed. Jessie had backed into a corner and had curled up into a ball.  
As she looked up to her tormentors she feared for more bullying. She smiled  
however when a voice shouted at the gang.

"HEY! Stop that!" The voice had shouted. The gang of youths had turned  
around, and now Jessie could see who had shouted at them. It was James.  
He had approached one of the boys and began to push him around forcefully.  
"What the hell kind of thing did she do to you eh?" He asked, not expecting a  
serious answer. He was right.

"Oh, hey James. No, we'll leave her alone ok?" The gang leader had replied.  
Then rest of the gang had already run off, as well as the leader. James'  
eyesight followed them away, and then turned back to Jessie.

"You ok?" He had asked. She didn't respond. She was too in love. James had  
helped her up off the floor that day, and helped her move through her  
stressful teen life.

As Jessie thought back, she remembered that she had never thanked James  
for helping her that day. Throughout the years that they had known each  
other, Jessie had never said "thank you" for that incident. Jessie stopped  
crying, but continued to sniff. She stood up in the shower, grabbed the  
shampoo bottle and applied the liquid to her hair. She threw her head forward  
also throwing her hair over her head. As her hair hung down, she lathered up  
her hair. That was one disadvantage of having long, long hair. It took forever  
to wash and dry. She never used the "I'm washing my hair" saying as an  
excuse she always meant it.

Eventually she finished having her shower. Once again she let the, now  
slightly warmer water run over her face as she fished for a towel through the  
open shower door. Her hand grabbed the fluffiness of the towel and she  
whipped it inside the shower. Jessie reached for the shower dial and turned  
the spray off. Her eyes first, she began to dry herself off. Once she was  
satisfied that she had dried herself good enough, she wrapped the towel  
around her body and stepped out of the shower. As she headed for the door  
out of the shower room, she grabbed yet another towel and began to dry her  
hair.

Jessie leant her head to the side, letting her hair fall slightly to the right. She  
rubbed the towel furiously on her hair. She was going to thank James today.  
She would do it this morning. He deserved it, especially after the night before.  
As she walked past the kitchen she could hear James talking in the bedroom.  
Being quite intrigued, she walked into the bedroom to find James sitting on  
the edge of the bed, facing away from her, in his shorts speaking on the  
cordless phone.

James heard Jessie walk into the room and he turned around to face her. The  
look on his face was that of worry. Seeing that, Jessie became disconcerted.

"Yes, thank you Professor, we'll be down ASAP" James spoke to the voice.  
His voice was quite edgy. It sounded serious. James pulled the phone from  
his ear and looked at it. He pressed the talk button and the phone hung up.

"James?" Jessie asked.  
"Apparently there is a huge defect with our suits."  
"Defect?"  
"The suits are killing us."

***

Immediately after James had issued that statement, Jessie had changed the  
suit so that it resembled something like clothes. However, it was James that  
suggested that they take a change of clothing as the suits may be taken off at  
the lab. Jessie, not wanting to be ogled by the other scientists at the lab,  
quickly agreed.

It had taken them just over 10 minutes to reach their destination. They were  
now sitting in two chairs next to each other, whilst the scientist showed them  
a slideshow of what was happening to them, as well as graphical charts of  
their systems. The room was dark enough for the projections to show on the  
wall, but she could still see the table to her right where all of the equipment  
was kept. Not wanting to think about the equipment more, she focused more  
onto the slideshow.

"Project Hercules was originally created to give Team Rocket members the  
ability to easily and more effectively catch Pokémon without the aid of other  
Pokémon. The end result was a suit that abided to the every command of its  
owner."  
Jessie was becoming quickly agitated. She didn't like the room she was in,  
and she certainly didn't like the person she was talking to.

"Well, so the project was a success! How does the 'suit killing us' come into  
it?" James immediately looked a Jessie then back to the scientist.

"After extensive research, we found that the project was not a success. We  
found that the suit connected with the owner's neural system too well. It  
wasn't an extension of the human mind, it was an extension of the humans  
hate and evil."  
James was now stupefied. He was shocked.

"You're telling me that, our hate is driving these things?"

"Almost. The suit is increasing every single part of the body by an  
unimaginable percentage. We have isolated the main areas that have been  
most affected." The scientist walked over to a small table and picked up a few  
sheets of paper. He passed them over to both Jessie and James and they  
looked at the sheet. The scientist continued to talk.

"The suit was originally from Ditto DNA. Even though the suit seems to be  
rigid on the outside, what you do not know that it has implanted itself inside  
your bodies. Parts of its DNA have been released into your own blood  
stream. This is the reason for your increased emotions and strength.  
However, the human body isn't meant to take this punishment. Even now,  
your pulse is off the scale. If the DNA continued to ravage your body, you will  
be immobilised in an uncertain period of time. You could lose control in a few  
weeks, or a couple of hours."

Jessie thought to herself. If her emotions were heightened, would her love for  
James be real? Unknowingly to Jessie, James was thinking along those lines  
as well.

"So we can just take off the suits!" James proclaimed.  
"Uhm, that's a problem James. The Suit has added itself to you. If you take it  
off without the suit wanting to come off you'll die. The suit has to want to  
come off, or you have to have bigger will power than it."  
"But If I'm controlling the suit, isn't my will power stronger?" Asked Jessie.  
"Subconsciously, the suit is telling you exactly what to do. From what you  
have said in the papers you took, the other night, the suits were telling you to  
kill each other."

Both Jessie and James uncomfortable thought back to that moment.

There was a tense silence in the room. Suddenly, there was a knock on the  
door. James looked over to Jessie. Her eyes were closed, and he could see  
her visibly shaking. Jessie was still thinking about whether her love for  
James was real. She was now confused. She didn't know what to think. The  
scientist answered the door, and a small voice lured him outside.

James got up out of his chair and walked behind Jessie to touch her  
shoulder. As soon as his hand touched her shoulder, she flinched. James  
pulled his hand back in surprise.

"Jessie?" James said, expecting an answer. He went to touch her again. She  
stepped out of her chair.  
"James, please..." She said defensively. James looked at her once again.  
Jessie's face was looking down at the floor. It was as if she could bear to look  
in his eyes.  
"Jessie? What's wrong?"  
"James, just don't touch me." Without asking any more questions, James  
spoke again.  
"Ok Jessie. If it's that you want." He sat down in the chair, resting his elbows  
on his knees.

The scientist re-entered the room looking quite startled.

"Jessie, James. We have found the source of the psy-waves. Your orders are  
to go there."

James looked over to Jessie again. She kept her eyes firmly on the floor. He  
looked back towards the scientist.  
"Ok, let's go."

-=-=-=-

As the lift doors opened, Jessie practically ran out of the compartment with  
James walking after her. Jessie had been silent since they had left the office.  
Now they were in the basement car park where their motorbike was being  
held. Jessie ran over to the bike, then realised that she would have to hold on  
to James to stop from falling off the bike. She became very nervous as James  
walked up to her.  
James was becoming annoyed at this. He decided to confront her. James  
walked up to Jessie and grabbed both her shoulders. She tried to pull out of  
his grip, but he only tightened it.

"Jessie, tell me what's wrong."  
She continued to try to wriggle out of his grip, but suddenly James' suit  
merged into Jessie's. It then tightened and they became joined.  
"What did you do?" Jessie asked, still trying to move.  
"Jessie, tell me what's wrong. TELL ME!" He shouted forcefully. Jessie  
winced slightly at the sudden increase in his voice. She didn't want to fight  
with him again, and to give in. She decided to tell him the truth.

"James," she started. "Do you love me?" James' eyes widened at her  
question.  
"What kind of question is that?"  
"A good question"  
"Well I've already told you that I love you..." James replied.  
"Yeah, but you said that under the influence of the suit." Suddenly the grip of  
James' suit loosened and James stepped back.  
"You think it was the suit saying that?"  
"Yes"  
"So you don't think I love you?"  
"That's right"  
"How could you think that Jessie, after..."  
"James, don't"  
"But Jessie, I love you!"  
"You don't" James gritted his teeth. He closed his eyes and then he opened  
them. His eyes were red.  
"JESSIE, I LOVE YOU. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?" Jessie didn't reply.  
James' eyes turned back to normal, but this time tears were beginning to  
show.

"Well if that's how you feel, you stay here. I'll go by myself." James said.  
"What? No." Jessie replied. However, James had already jumped on the bike  
and started it up.  
"See you later Jessie. And if you're going back to your room, check your  
dresser." Jessie was about to reply however James had already zoomed off  
on the bike. Jessie watched him ride up the ramp to above ground. As soon  
as he was gone, she followed suit. She began to walk back to her apartment.

***

Eventually, Jessie had arrived at her apartment. Opening the door with the  
key, she walked in. A musky smell hit her as she walked in. Not knowing  
where it came from, she tried to ignore it. Jessie slammed the door behind  
her and made her way to the bedroom. She walked to her bed and sat down  
on it. She then lay on her back and grabbed another pillow from the end of  
the bed. She hugged it as she began to cry. Her thoughts were of James. He  
continued to plead that he loved her, but she just didn't know if it was the suit  
talking or if it was James.

She continued to cry.

Without meaning to, Jessie thought back to a particular day a few months  
ago. They were in the Team Rocket headquarters. Giovanni had called them  
in to discuss their latest failure. They were to capture another Eevee for the  
boss, as he liked to evolve it into a special breed. However, they had failed to  
capture an Eevee. It had been Jessie's fault. Jessie's fear of Eevee's had  
stopped them from capturing it. They were so close, but Jessie had screwed  
it all up. For the first time, Jessie had gone wrong. Giovanni had called both  
Jessie and James in, and Jessie knew what was coming. He had called them  
in to teach them a lesson. Giovanni was to teach Jessie a lesson, like he had  
done so many times before. Standing in front of Jessie and James in his  
office, Giovanni has asked them who had screwed. Jessie gulped and was  
about to step forward when suddenly James had stepped forward and  
proclaimed that it was his fault. Jessie was stunned. James was taking the fall  
for her. Before she could even protest, she was dragged out of his office. As  
the door closed, she could just see two bodyguards pull out to small sticks,  
and Giovanni pull out a baseball bat. Just as the door closed, she saw  
Giovanni lift up the bat. She heard a dull thud. She didn't know if it had been  
the door closing, or James.

He had always protected Jessie. James had always looked out for her.  
Thinking more and more, she realised that he had been spending a lot of time  
covering her back. She was hardly ever in trouble. And if she was, it was  
when James wasn't about. James was stupid enough to take punishment for  
both his and Jessie's mistakes.

Jessie sat up in her bed. She had stopped crying, and now she knew why.  
James had the courage to stand up to everyone who had threatened her. She  
had never seen it like that, she just thought he was constantly guilty and that  
he had a guilt complex. She never saw it as him doing it to protect her. It was  
then that she suddenly remembered what James had said to her. She was to  
check her dresser for something. She thought for a moment and wondered  
what. She threw the pillow she was holding onto the floor next to her, and  
jumped over to her dresser. She began to root through her drawers searching  
for something she didn't know. She threw her clothes and belongings out of  
the first drawer. Once it was empty, she slammed it shut and pulled out the  
second drawer. Once again, she continued to pull out everything that was in  
it. After she found nothing unusual, she opened the bottom drawer. The third  
drawer turned out to be empty apart from a small box and a note.

She bent down and picked up both the box and the note. She placed the box  
on the top of the dresser and unfolded to the note to read it.

"Jessie, we have known each other for so many years. We have grown  
together, and learned everything together. I was going to tell you this face to  
face, but if you're reading this, then you're angry with me for some reason. So  
I won't ask in this small note. However, I urge you to open the box. Hopefully,  
you will realise what I was going to ask when you see it. Bye Jessie, I love  
you. James."

Jessie placed a hand over her mouth. She was beginning to realise what the  
note was on about. Her hands began to shake as she picked up the box. She  
pulled off the top part and placed it down on the dresser. She pulled off some  
of the tissue that was inside, when she suddenly gasped at the sight that was  
before her. In the small box was a small silver ring. In the middle of it was a  
sparkling diamond. Sure it wasn't big, but she knew that he wouldn't have  
been able to afford it considering the salary that they get paid. She touched  
the diamond as she heard a voice from behind her.

"Marry me?" Jessie spun around to see James standing in the doorway to the  
bedroom. Tears welled up in her eyes again as she ran up to him. Jumping  
into his arms, she kissed him passionately. When she broke away, she  
placed the ring into his hand. He took her right hand and slowly placed the  
ring onto her finger. As he did, Jessie spoke aloud.

"Yes." James hugged her tightly as she hugged him too. He pulled out of the  
hug.  
"How could you think that I don't love you?" She wiped a tear from her eye.  
"I don't know. I was just being stupid." James placed his right hand on her  
cheek. He looked into her eyes.  
"Jessie, don't say that. You had a pretty valid reason to think that. Jessie, I  
won't let anything happen to you. I'd do anything for you, you know that  
right?"  
Jessie weakly nodded her head. She was so happy her mind was completely  
clouded.  
"Well, on that note, let's go kick some butt." James said and smirked. Jessie  
chuckled and followed James as they walked out of their apartment door.

-=-=-=-

Butch yawned as he continued to listen to the scientist in front of him. Butch  
was ready to use the machine that had been constructed to gather as much  
power as he possibly could. Butch looked over to Cassidy sitting beside him.  
She was completely blanking the scientist, who was looking away from them,  
and was instead playing with a screw she had found. Lazily she was moving  
her right hand around in circles and making quick movements with it. Her  
movements matched exactly that of the screw that was floating in front of her,  
in fact the screw was imitating her movements. She was controlling the pencil  
using her newfound powers. Cassidy loved these powers. She could easily  
pass time with them, and she could easily gain power with them. She began  
to spin the screw faster and faster. Suddenly the scientist turned around and  
spoke rather loudly at Cassidy and Butch. This caused Cassidy to lost control  
of the screw, which shot across the room narrowly missing Butch's nose and  
embedded itself into the wall. Butch just stared at the screw in amazement  
thinking that the screw could have killed him.

"Sir, Madame, you MUST listen to these instructions. IF you don't, the  
consequences could be disastrous!" There was a slight hint of anger in his  
voice. Cassidy detected this immediately and stood up. Butch moved his  
stare from the wall to Cassidy. He knew what was going to happen next, and  
he didn't like it.

"I'm bored. And you're the cause of it." Cassidy raised her right hand and  
pointed it at the scientist. Within seconds the scientist levitated off the floor,  
and was hanging in mid air.  
"What, what is the meaning of this?" He shouted out. Cassidy flung her arm  
and pointed it at the wall next to her. Instantaneously the levitating scientist  
flew across the room and into the steel wall with a dull thud. He fell to the  
floor and lay there, limp and unconscious. Butch stood up out of his chair.

"What the hell was that for?" He shouted at her. Cassidy turned to face Butch.  
She put on the cutest face she could possible produce, and to add effect,  
began to play with a strand of her hair.  
"He was boring." Butch just looked at her. He knew that he shouldn't be angry  
with her, because she would probably torture him in ways that he couldn't  
imagine. Also, he knew that he couldn't be angry with her as the face that she  
had on was just making him melt. Instead, he turned around to walk out of the  
door. Cassidy produced an evil smile and followed him outside. As she  
walked out of the door, she flicked her wrist again and the screw in the wall  
flew out and into the other wall, imbedding itself once again. She giggled a  
little.

Butch stepped onto the metal railing platform as he walked above the  
machine he was about to use. Cassidy followed suit. Her boots clanged  
against the metal with every step. Cassidy looked over the edge of the metal  
railing track to see the floor 100 foot below her. Immediately she looked back  
up to Butch's back. She may have extraordinary powers, but she still has her  
fears of small spaces and heights. That she didn't like. She could feel her  
palms start to become sweaty, and she could hear her own heavy breathing.  
From when she used to be locked in a cupboard as a child by her bigger  
brothers, she has never liked small spaces. Her mother was an angel, but  
she had no idea of the torture that went on at home whilst she was at work.  
She hated her brothers for that. Cassidy knew that after she had taken over  
Team Rocket, she would go in search of her brothers, and teach them a  
lesson they'll never forget. Cassidy pulled off the glove off her right hand, and  
looked into her palm. She stared at the scar across her palm. That had  
happened when she was nine years of age. Her brothers had been playing  
around and were quite hyper. They had been playing around with the sharp  
kitchen knifes when they started to scare Cassidy by quickly moving the  
blades in front of her face. It was when she raised her hands to protect  
herself that one of the blades cut through her palm and through to the other  
side.

She had told her mother, under the stress of her brothers, that she had been  
playing around with knifes. Although her mother did shout at her, she had  
never hit her. That's what Cassidy loved about her mother. If Cassidy did do  
something wrong, her mother would explain why not to do it and so forth. She  
would be so calm. Sometimes she would lose it, but she would only scream.  
Her father was the same. They were both angelic.

The location of her parents, she didn't know. Her parents were proud  
members of Team Rocket, and were close friends with Miyamoto, Jessie's  
Mother. That's how Jessie and Cassidy had known each other before, but it  
was when their parents died that they lost contact. Jessie was more taken  
aback from the death of her mother. Cassidy knew that her parents were still  
alive somewhere. They were survivors, but quitters. Some days she had  
doubted that, but she would always move back to the assumption that they  
were still alive. She would always think that. Always.

Cassidy snapped back to reality from her thoughts when she realised that  
Butch was trying to grab her attention.  
"Cassidy? CASSIDY? Hellllooooo?" He was waving his hands in front of her  
face. She stepped back a little with surprise from Butch's hands.  
"Oh, Butch, what?"  
"You ok? You seemed a million miles away for a second there."  
"No, Butch, I'm ok. What do you want?" Cassidy now realised where she was.  
She was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't realise that she had  
already walked down a flight of stairs, through huge piles of scaffolding and  
into the control room of the machine. Butch began speaking again.  
"It's almost ready to take me and you on. We'll both have the power of every  
single Pokémon in the world soon. We'll be powerful. Powerful." Cassidy  
smiled at Butch.  
"Yes, we can get revenge on those who doubted us."  
"That's so true" he replied.

They both looked at each other for a few seconds. Butch broke away the  
stare and looked out of the glass pane next to him. He looked over the  
machine.

"Cassidy, let's do it."  
"Now?"  
"Yes. Now" Butch replied. Butch walked up to Cassidy and put his arm  
around her waist. They both walked out of the door with Cassidy closing it  
behind them both. As they walked across the floor towards the huge machine  
Butch shouted out his orders.

"People! We are ready for the machine! Begin the start up sequence!"  
Straight away, other workers began to run around setting up the equipment  
and the operating system of the machine. Five other workers made their way  
over to Butch and Cassidy. Butch removed his hand from Cassidy's waist and  
placed it in the palm of Cassidy's. They both walked over to the first seat and  
Cassidy sat down in it while still holding Butch's hand. She looked up into his  
eyes as he spoke to her.

"See you on the other side" he smirked. Cassidy just smiled back. Two of the  
five workers guided Butch over to his chair as the remaining three began to  
strap Cassidy in. Butch sat down and immediately the clamps around his  
ankles set themselves into place. The two workers strapped his wrists to the  
chair and placed the metal plate on top of his head. They then took the two  
curved metal plates and fit them into place on Butch's head. Making sure both  
Butch and Cassidy were in place, the scientists behind the glass in the room  
opposite released the pods. Glass tubes fell down around Butch and Cassidy,  
encasing them in glass. It was then that Butch could hear Cassidy yelping  
already. He knew she had a fear of small spaces, and this was probably hell  
for her.

The scientists checked everyone over once more. Everything was clear. It  
was time. The scientist pressed a button, and immediately a surge of energy  
shot through both Cassidy and Butch.

They both screamed.

-=-=-=-

The motorcycle screamed through the forest at breakneck speed, quickly  
dodging trees and rocks that became obstructions. Tugging at the breaks  
slightly to avoid a fallen tree, James swerved the bike off the main forest path  
and into the thicket of the woods. As soon as he was past the tree he moved  
his way back onto the main path and let the dust fly once again.

Jessie held onto James as tight as she could fearing that if she did let go, she  
would go flying down the dusty path and be very seriously injured. So being  
with James seemed a little easier. She cupped her hands around James'  
waist. She touched the ring on her right hand, with her left hand.

James noticed Jessie feeling the ring at his waist. Looking down at her  
hands, he quickly set his view back onto the dusty path in front of him. For  
years he had loved Jessie. From the moment they met, he was in love with  
her. He had never loved any other girl. He had never really had a crush on  
any other girl. Well, apart from the one time with the ghost, but that didn't  
count. The ghost was making him fall in love with her, pretty tacky move  
really, but he got over it and fell back in love with Jessie.

James was finding it increasingly difficult to manoeuvre the bike past trees  
and bushes whilst thinking about Jessie. He looked at the small screen on the  
motorbike handlebars in front of him. A red dot could be seen flashing quickly  
on a grid of green lines. The location he and Jessie were to check out was  
coming up very quickly. James looked up from the bike once again. This time  
however, the shrubbery was becoming denser. Trees were closer together,  
and the path was becoming more overgrown. Jessie could see the problem  
and quickly looked over James' shoulder to get a good look in front. James  
moved his head a little and shouted to Jessie to get heard over the din of the  
bike.

"Jessie, hold on." Jessie smiled and tightened her grip on his waist. She  
rested her head on his shoulder but was suddenly jolted as James increased  
the speed of the motorcycle. Jessie glanced at the surroundings and noticed  
that they were a blue. James gritted his teeth as he sped at top speed  
through the bushes. Expecting more he prepared himself for a large tree to  
appear. However, the shrubbery disappeared as they entered a clearing.  
James looked around slightly confused. It was then that he heard Jessie  
screaming from behind him whilst pointing in front of him. He looked and saw  
a warehouse meeting them very quickly. He slammed on the brakes and  
turned the bike. As the bike turned into the spin, James held out his right  
hand, which then sprouted vines. The vines suddenly merged together to  
create a large curved shield to cover them from any impending damage. The  
bike came to a sudden halt. For a few seconds, there was silence. James  
opened his eyes and licked his lips a little from the tenseness of the situation  
they had passed through. The shield disintegrated and fell back into his right  
arm as he placed it to his side. Jessie loosened her fear grip around his waist  
and stepped off the bike, slightly shaking.

Jessie looked again; they were inches away from the warehouse door.

"Wow, nice driving" she said, looking over to James. He was dusting himself  
off.  
"Yeah Jess, thanks for the compliment."  
"Anytime" She replied with a smirk as she walked up to the warehouse door.  
"Is this it? Just a door?"  
James walked up to it.  
"This can't be right." Jessie placed her hand on the doorknob and tried to turn  
it. Immediately the doorknob glowed. A small blue spark appeared as Jessie  
snapped her hand to her chest, holding it tenderly.  
"OW! Dammit,"  
"What?" James asked.  
"It shocked me!" James raised an eyebrow and looked at the doorknob. He  
could see ridges all over the handle. Instantly he recognised it as a Team  
Rocket design.  
"It's only activated by a certain hand print."  
"Team rocket?"  
"Seems it, but we can get around this." James placed his hand on the  
doorknob. The black suit began to liquefy. James then took his hand off as  
his suit literally jumped onto the doorknob and began to mould around it. The  
suit moulded into the ridges of the door handle then turned into a skin like  
substance. A panel in the wall slid open as a camera appeared. James pulled  
the suit of the handle.

"Great, an eye test." He groaned. Jessie became increasingly annoyed.  
"I've had enough of this security stuff." She grabbed the camera and moved  
her face in front of it. "Scan this!" She proclaimed as she grabbed the camera  
with her right hand and ripped it out of the socket. She threw the camera on  
the floor and plunged her right hand into the hole she had made. She fumbled  
around inside ripping all sorts of circuitry and boards when suddenly the door  
opened. She pulled out her arm quickly as the door slowly slid to one side.  
James stood in the doorway astonished at what he had seen.

"Damn Jessie." She turned around and smiled slyly at him.  
"Thank you" she replied.

James stepped through the doorway and saw what he had expected to see, a  
large, dark and empty warehouse. The door closed behind him as he took  
another step. He looked up at the ceiling then at each wall. Jessie however  
had boldly moved more into the centre of the warehouse, her high heels  
clacking on the floor. She spun around as she surveyed her surroundings.  
She walked back to James as he walked towards her. She placed her hands  
on his chest as they met.

"Well, TR has screwed up again. Nothing here." James spoke.  
"On the bright side, we've found out where to host our wedding party." Jessie  
replied. James chuckled at the thought. Then thinking about it, Jessie was  
right. James then placed his arm around Jessie's shoulders as he turned  
around to walk out.  
"C'mon Jess, let's go. There's nothing new here." James took one step when  
the floor beneath him and Jessie began to shake. He turned around and saw  
that the whole warehouse was shaking. "Dammit, what is it with me and  
these situations?"

Dust fell from the ceiling and staircases swayed from side to side as the  
warehouse continued to shake violently. James stepped back slightly for  
extra support. Jessie slipped on the floor beneath her and fell into James'  
arms. As they both looked into each other's eyes they heard a loud  
whooshing sound coming from the other end of the warehouse. Looking over  
they saw the floor being ripped apart in front of their eyes. Bits of concrete  
and wood flew from the floor and became lethal missiles, aimlessly hitting  
anything that got into its way. As suddenly as it had started, the shaking  
stopped. Jessie and James looked over to the hole in the floor of the  
warehouse. Suddenly two figures quickly rose out of it with their arms  
crossed. Jessie's eyes widened. In the darkness they couldn't see the two  
figures hovering over the hole. The figures moved forward slightly and  
lowered themselves onto the untouched floor. Everything became silent.  
Jessie and James were too shocked to speak. The characters were unknown,  
which was until they spoke.

"Prepare for trouble,"  
"And make it double," said the two characters.  
*Team Rocket? * James thought.

"To infect the world with devastation,"  
"To blight all people's in every nation,"  
*Our motto? * Jessie thought.  
"To denounce the goodness of truth and love,"  
"To extend our wrath to the stars above,"  
Jessie squinted her eyes a little as something clicked inside her head. The  
motto that was being played out was familiar.  
"I recognise this..." Jessie spoke softly.  
"Cassidy,"  
"Butch,"  
Jessie and James opened their mouths in shock.  
"Welcome Team Rocket, standing proud with weapons in sight,"  
"Surrender now to survive this fight."

Light filled the empty warehouse. Covering their eyes from the intense  
change in light, Jessie and James looked away. Suddenly both Jessie and  
James were pulled up into the air and thrown towards the back wall. Jessie  
tried to move, as did James, but then they found that they were being held on  
the wall by nothing. Something invisible was holding them.

Jessie opened her eyes slightly to see a tall woman walking towards her, the  
female's high heels clacking on the floor.  
"Well, well, well. Look who it is Butch!"  
Jessie's vision was blurred but it was soon coming back into vision.  
"It's out old buddies Jessie and James!" Exclaimed Butch. James flinched at  
the sound of Butch's voice. Without opening his eyes, he spoke aloud.  
"So it's you two. You are the one's responsible for the weakening of all the  
Pokémon in the city area." Cassidy walked up to James and placed her hand  
on James' face. His eyes had now adapted to the light, and he gave a mean  
stare into Cassidy's eyes. She stroked his cheek lightly. James abruptly  
moved his head away.  
"Aww, James? Don't want to play?" James was about to reply when Jessie  
interrupted.  
"Get your FILTHY hands off him Cassidy." Butch swiftly walked over to Jessie  
and hit her across the face with the back of his fist.  
"Shut up." Jessie gritted her teeth to soothe the pain. She looked back to  
Butch's face and stared into his eyes. Pinned up to the wall, she opened both  
of her hands. Tendrils shot out of the palms of her hands and wrapped  
around Butch's neck. The tendrils picked Butch up off the floor by a clear four-  
foot as Butch grabbed his throat to breathe. Cassidy shot a look to Butch  
being lifted up of the floor.  
"What the HELL!" She proclaimed.  
"Like our new suits Cassidy?" Jessie spoke aloud, still staring into the eyes of  
Butch.  
"Let us go, and Jessie will let Butch go." Cassidy looked at James, Jessie,  
then at Butch. She bowed her head and looked at the floor. James smiled as  
he began to think he had won. However, Cassidy then threw her head back  
up to face James.  
"No way." She pointed her hand at James with her fingers out stretched. She  
suddenly snapped her hand into a fist. Immediately James began to choke.  
"Jessie, check this out. I'm slowly squeezing James' throat. He is slowly  
losing breath. Let go of Butch, and I'll let go of James."  
Jessie moved her head to look at James. His face was becoming redder by  
the second; she could actually see the marks being made on his neck by  
invisible hands. She continued to strangle Butch and watch James being  
strangled. She didn't know what to do. It was then that she had an idea.  
James looked at her, he had the same idea, but first he had to live for it to  
happen. Jessie unwrapped the tendrils from Butch's neck and he fell to the  
ground. Cassidy kept up her promise and let go of James' neck. Both males  
started coughing and began to breathe heavily as their got their breath back.  
Still coughing, James nodded at Jessie. Jessie nodded back. Gently, she  
began to whisper to Butch.

"Butch, Butch baby come here." He looked up at Jessie. Holding his neck a  
little, he stood up and walked to Jessie.  
"Shut up."  
"But you don't know what I want." Cassidy was already standing in front  
James when she realised that Jessie was slowly seducing Butch. She walked  
over to Butch. She grabbed his arm.  
"BUTCH! Don't listen to this trash bag. I'll deal with her. You deal with  
James." He nodded and walked over to James. When Cassidy was standing  
in front of Jessie, and Butch was standing in front of James, the plan was put  
into action. At the same time, Jessie called out to Butch and James called out  
to Cassidy. As their counterparts looked in either direction, both Jessie and  
James let free their energy and kicked their counterpart in the face. Jessie hit  
Cassidy and James hit Butch. Immediately Butch and Cassidy fell to the floor.  
By that distraction, the psychic energy in the room failed and Jessie and  
James fell down a few inches off the wall.

"So you have psychic powers now. Check ours out." Jessie smiled. Jessie  
and James bent down on the floor then jumped over Cassidy and Butch's  
head to land ten foot behind them. Turning around, Cassidy and Butch were  
bemused.

Standing back to back, James' suit began to mould and stretch out. Blades  
appeared from the back of his Legs and swords slowly sprouted from his  
forearms. The black suit engulfed his head and moulded into the shape of an  
armoured helmet. Jessie's suit had already covered Jessie's whole body by  
now. Her head turned into snakes of their own accord as fangs appeared  
from out of her mouth. Small blades protruded from the tips of her fingers.  
Tendrils appeared from her hips to spread down her legs. Jessie and James  
turned to face Cassidy and Butch. By now, they had both stood up to watch  
this display. After a few seconds of silence, all four characters spoke aloud.

"Game on."

Cassidy screamed as a bolt of lightening shot out her hands towards Jessie.  
Using the tendrils in her legs Jessie sprang up in the air and dodged out of  
the way. Butch ran towards James and lunged toward him. Watching Butch,  
James quickly stepped to one side. Butch ran past him, but jolted back to  
James hitting him in the face with full force. James fell to the floor as Butch  
jumped on top of him. Jessie dived to the floor as Cassidy ran towards her.  
Jessie grabbed Cassidy's leg and pulled her over. She walked over to  
Cassidy and was about to hit her when Cassidy moved out of the way. Jessie  
hit the concrete floor. The impact was so much that the concrete broke into  
pieces. Jessie followed Cassidy and lunged for her once again. This time  
Cassidy grabbed both of Jessie's arms. It turned into a game of double arm  
wrestle.

"You can't get away from this Cassidy," Jessie spoke through her teeth.  
"Can't I?" Cassidy replied. She closed her eyes and when she re-opened  
them a yellow beam shot out, hitting Jessie and throwing her across the  
warehouse floor. James saw Jessie fly across the warehouse, which gave  
Butch enough time to do the same thing. A yellow beam shot out of his eyes  
and threw James across the warehouse.

"You see Jessie, you can't stop us." As Cassidy was talking, a machine  
began to lift through the hole in the floor. The hole was defiantly not big  
enough as other bits of concrete on either side of the warehouse began to  
crack and break apart. The machine eventually reached its full height. The  
top of it reached the roof of the warehouse and the width of the machine  
matched that of the warehouse.  
"Using this machine," Butch began. "We can rule the world."  
"When we activate this machine, the energy and skills of all the Pokémon in  
the world will be drained and drawn into our own bodies." Cassidy continued.  
"Our internal body and mental structure will be reformed to accommodate  
these changes, and once we have these powers,"  
"We will not be stopped." Jessie held her head as she tried to comprehend  
what was going on.  
"You can have the pleasure of witnessing this moment." Jessie decided that  
this was the moment to make a move. She stood up and ran towards  
Cassidy. Cassidy raised her left hand and aimed it at Jessie. Immediately a  
blue bolt of fire shot out of her hand and hit Jessie. Jessie screamed as the  
fire engulfed her. She was thrown back yet again into the concrete wall  
behind her. She fell down from the wall limp and lifeless. James looked on in  
horror. He then looked back towards Butch and Cassidy.

"What have you done? You've probably killed her!"  
Cassidy yawned.  
"What a pity." James stood up and faced his two enemies.  
"I'm angry. And you shouldn't have made me angry." He raised both of his  
hands. There was silence for a few seconds. James became confused. He  
shook his arms and strained them out towards Cassidy and Butch again.  
Nothing happened. The suit had died on him.  
"Dammit, it's happened."  
"Aww, James without his new toy?" Cassidy spoke aloud. Butch stepped  
forward.  
"You make preparations Cassidy, I'll take care of him." Cassidy nodded and  
turned around to face the machine. Butch walked over to James.  
"Hello old chap."  
"Don't try the English accent. It doesn't suit you." Almost nose-to-nose, Butch  
spoke again.  
"I would use my powers, but it would be more gratifying to use physical  
abuse." James gulped.  
"You gonna beat me up?" He asked knowingly.  
"I've done it once, I'll do it again." The anger built up within James. Butch  
swung out his right hand and aimed at James. James ducked, parried the  
punch above him then hit Butch in the chest with the knuckle of his thumb.  
Butch stepped back, slightly winded.  
"Karate?" He asked, slightly impressed.  
"Yes actually."  
"When?"  
"Few years ago. Looks like it's come in pretty handy." Butch jumped back at  
James and tried a kick. James blocked the kick with his forearm and swung a  
punch up towards Butch's face. Butch moved his head and grabbed James'  
hand. He then kicked James in the ribs repeatedly. The third time Butch's leg  
came up to meet James' ribs, James caught the leg and twisted it. Butch  
moved with his leg, twisted and fell onto the floor. James was about to bend  
down to grab Butch when Butch lashed out with a kick to the chest. James  
flew back with intensity for about 3 foot. Butch got up and ran over to James  
on the floor. He aimed a punch at James' head. James moved out of the way  
of the punch. Butch hit the concrete floor. His hand went through the top layer  
of concrete to create yet another hole. James, still lying on the floor, grabbed  
Butch by his stomach and threw him into the wall opposite him. Butch flew  
into the wall and then jumped back into James' chest.  
"Not good enough friend," Butch said. Suddenly a bolt of pure white energy  
hit Butch and threw him over to the machine and Cassidy. James looked  
behind him to see Jessie standing upright with her right hand pulsing with  
energy.

"Good timing!" James said.  
"Good fighting!" Jessie replied. Butch however, had made his way into the  
first pod of the machine. Cassidy was screaming out now.

"IT'S OVER NOW! WE WILL GET INTO THE MACHINE AND BECOME  
GODS!"  
She pressed a button as she ran into the pod adjacent to Butch. Immediately  
a large point shot through the room of the warehouse as a lightening beam  
shot out of the top. Jessie and James watched as Butch and Cassidy  
screaming in pure agony.

"It's happening. They're becoming Pokémon in their own right." James spoke  
out.  
"Look, they are!"

Both Cassidy and Butch's bodies were becoming distorted. A tail began to  
grow from Cassidy as Butch's legs slowly began to turn into that of a Scyther.  
Jessie and James looked at each other.

"We've got to do it. We've got to merge." Jessie proclaimed.  
"What? Are you talking about our suits?"  
"Yeah,"  
"Mine has run out."  
"Not all of it. Just concentrate. On me." Jessie looked into his eyes and  
James looked into hers. They held each other's hands.  
"I love you Jessie."  
"I love you James."

They both closed their eyes. The black suits began to liquefy and merge into  
each other. Their suits began to expand. Jessie and James were being totally  
overcome by their suits. Soon enough a white glow began to glow from them.  
Large, blue electric bolts began to shoot from their bodies and form a sphere  
around them. The machine began to glow hot with heat as the powers of all  
the Pokémon in the world were being sucked into Cassidy and Butch. A loud  
high-pitched sound began to rip through the warehouse as two powers  
collided. Jessie and James faced away from each other and faced the  
machine. They opened their eyes. Red beams shot from them as both Jessie  
and James screamed along with Cassidy and Butch. The blue and white bolts  
surrounding them shot towards the machine as the red beams out of their  
eyes thickened. A chain reaction has begun. A white beam shot from the  
machine and another high-pitched noise shot out. The white light filled the  
warehouse completely and everything was drowned out by the screams of  
the machine.

The power in the room had grown.

The strength had intensified.

The warehouse exploded.

-=-=-=-  
Epilogue

A team of nurses scurried about in the hospital room tending to their new  
patients and making sure they were as comfortable as possible. Leads  
attached to monitors and medical equipment was stuck to the bodies of the  
two patients in opposite beds to each other. A nurse walked over to the male  
patient and injected some medicine into his arm as another nurse fluffed up  
the pillow of the female patient. She tied the long red hair of the patient above  
the patient's head to that she could lay down properly. Another nurse sat at  
the bedside of both patient's and made amendments to the graphs and forms  
in the folder she was holding.

Outside the door of the hospital room stood three men and a female. They  
wore black suits with red belts for their trousers. They all wore black  
sunglasses and all carried a suitcase. Without emotion on their faces they  
stood in the corridor. One of the men pulled his mobile phone away from his  
ear and pressed a button.  
"The Pokémon are making a full recovery. Not one Pokémon died." They all  
nodded.  
The female looked through the window in the door and spoke out.  
"What shall we do with them?"  
"They know of the Omega project and the bio enhanced suits."  
"Considering their situation, I don't think we have much to worry about."  
"Shall we go along with the boss' orders?"  
"Kill them?" The female from the door stood up and turned around to face his  
companions.  
"That's not necessary. When the local authorities questioned them, Jessie  
and James couldn't remember anything. When I spoke to them later, I found  
that the last thing they could remember was walking into the Team Rocket  
headquarters after being defeated by the Pikachu again."  
One of the other men interrupted.  
"Katie, that's about a week ago."  
"Exactly Lee"  
"They have amnesia?" Asked Lee.  
"The apparent explosion from both forces must have jogged their memories  
out of sync." Explained Katie.  
"But don't forget about the suit theory" another reminded. One of the other  
men spoke up.  
"Suit theory?"  
"Yeah." Lee started. "The scientists at the lab think that all the emotions,  
thoughts and actions were 'recorded' into the suits. Instead of the brain  
registering the past week's events, the suit did. It was integrated into their  
brains."  
"And because the suits have been removed now, they have no recollection of  
the past week's events." Katie continued.  
"Not even their marriage plans?"  
"Marriage?" Katie asked.  
"They put in a formal request to get married before they went in search for the  
machine."  
"They won't remember." Lee replied.  
"And it's best that they didn't. The boss would have let them get married. It's  
illegal anyhow."  
"But they put in a request?" Katie asked.  
"They didn't put in a formal request, they left the boss a message saying they  
were going to quit and get married."  
"Oh,"  
"But now they can't remember. So they will stay with Team Rocket."  
"So threat percentage?" Katie asked once again,  
"Nil" Lee replied. There was silence for a few moments. They all looked back  
into the room. Jessie and James were unconscious on the beds, barely  
staying alive. They were stable and recovering, but they were still on the  
edge. The doctors said that Jessie and James would pull through. Which was  
a result for the four men standing outside.  
"It's a shame really." Katie said as they all began to walk down the corridor.  
"What's a shame?" Another of the men asked.  
"That they can't remember." The man looked confused as he replied.  
"Why's that?"  
"They probably revealed more secrets and emotions to each other in the past  
week than they would ever do in a lifetime. Their lives may have changed, but  
now they have been changed back." Katie said.  
"Well, it's not us to decide what happens."  
"True. And this information must not go outside of this group. We tell the  
boss, and that's it. We are the only people who know of this whole project and  
it's information." Katie explained.  
"If Jessie and James ask?" Lee asked.  
"We know nothing." The four men continued to walk down the long, sterile  
corridor.  
"What happened to Cassidy and Butch?" Lee asked.  
There was a brief silence.  
"They were never found amongst the wreckage. However, two unknown  
Pokémon brain wave frequencies were found."  
"What?" Lee replied.  
"I know. There must have been new and undiscovered Pokémon in that area  
at the time. Whatever Pokémon were there at the time are long gone now."  
"Shall we tell the boss that?" Katie questioned.  
"No. Less work for us." Lee replied.  
"True." Said another of the men.

As the group walked away, James squirmed in his bed. Moving in his sleep  
he dreamt a peaceful dream. Jessie also dreamt in her unconsciousness.  
They had lost all memory of the past week. All memory of revealing their love  
for each other and all memory of planning a wedding had disappeared.

However, that didn't stop them dreaming about each other.  
Their love for each other was still there, they would just have to declare their  
love all over again. Jessie and James would never remember the  
experiences that they had. In spite of this, their love would never die. Their  
love would live throughout the ages.

They were legends in their own right. They had saved the world, but no one  
knew. Jessie and James had finally completed what they set out to do. They  
had become heroes. They just didn't know it.

The End.


End file.
